Clove and Cato Love at first kiss?
by Firegirl99
Summary: Everyone knows about 'the star crossed lovers of district 12' but knobody guessed that the careers had feeling of love too. Cato and Clove change this. This is their story. WARNING ALTERATE ENDING! DISCLAIMER: I don't own anything Suzanne Collins does!
1. love at first kiss?

DISCLAIMER: I DO NOT OWN THE HUNGER GAMES (HOWEVER MUCH I WISH I DID) SUZANNE COLLINS DOES.

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Chapter 1 – love at first kiss?

Clove's POV

I wake up to the ever annoying sound of my alarm. I smash it to the floor with immense force and fall back to sleep. When my eyes finally flutter open I squint because the sun is shining through my open window. Sun. that means I slept in. SHIT! I roll out of bed and sprint into the bathroom, take a quick shower and get dressed. I don't really care what I wear as long as I can train in it. I grab my bag from besides my bed and slip out of the window. I climb the familiar tree and run full speed towards the nut.

When I finally reach it I turn left and climb down the steep steps that lead to our district training center. Technically we aren't allowed to train for the hunger games but being careers we do anyway. I slam the door open and crash into the large room. I HAVE to get here first otherwise I'll lose my reputation and people will stop thinking of me as a threat. Without people being scared of me I'll never get to go into the games.

Because I live in district 2 winning the hunger games is everything to me. I have been training since I was 3 years old, all day, everyday. Both my parents work in the nut and know how important it is to be both skilled _and _smart. Unlike most other kids here they had me educated and now I can survive on my own. I'm ready for the games. Sadly my trainer doesn't see it that way. Everyone knows I'm the best with a knife in the district and am probably the best in Panam too but he just sees me as a little kid because I'm only 15 and small for my age. I do everything I can to impress him even though I don't really care what he thinks. I go out every 2 months and live in the 'forbidden' woods on my own for a week to see if I can take care of myself in what could be the arena. He just sees it as a way to get out of training. If it was up to him I'd never get into the games.

Unfortunately it sorta is. When you turn 17 your trainer can chose weather or not to enter you into this competition. One for boys and one for girls. The first to draw blood wins each round. The two overall winners are allowed to volunteer as tributes at the reaping. It's the trainer's way of making sure that there are only 2 volunteers. If they think you're ready before you're 17 then they can bend the rules slightly and take a risk by entering you. I could easily win but he still won't enroll me.

I let my anger come out and furiously hit the targets with my knives. It just goes to show how early I get up because its hours before the next person arrives even though I slept in. It's Cato. We're almost always teamed up together for practice because everyone else is scared that we'll kill them. They're right to be frightened. Cato leans across the doorframe out of breath. Maybe I'm not the only one who gets up early to train. He's lucky. His mum's a victor so he lives in victor's village and has his own training building. As I go to collect my knives from the far away dummies I notice he's watching my butt as I walk. Then I realize what I'm wearing. My shorts are REALLY short and my top – that doesn't even cover my belly button – is really tight. This is NOT turning out to be a good morning.

Luckily I remember that I have my hoodie stashed inside my bag. I pull it over my head and it easily covers my shorts. I let out a sigh and he looks disappointed. Then he moves closer to me. I don't budge. Making sure he knows that I'm not scared. He keeps creeping closer. I slide my hands over a knife that I have strapped to my thigh and I get ready to do my signature move on him. I have a bit of a history of hurting any guy that comes near me. I wait until they touch me and then I flip them over my shoulder, pin them down and run my knife up their arm creating a long scar. You wouldn't believe the amount of times I have had to do this. Any other girl would probably be flattered that all these handsome men were after them but I have to focus on training. Of course Cato has had his hands on me a few times but nothing sexual because it's only training. Whenever he touches me it's to try and pin me to the ground. I'm not sure if that's what he has in mind now though.

Cato's POV

I walk into the training center and see Clove take out at least 10 dummies in less than 2 minutes with her famous knives. She looks hot. Her top barely covering up her chest (I'm not complaining) and her shorts make me want to find what they're containing. She spins round noticing me and I lean across the door frame trying to look casual. I'm not sure weather or not it works. She's so hard to read. She tugs on her hoodie that criminally covers her lushes' body. Suddenly I feel the urge to kiss her. I start to walk towards her and am not surprised when she doesn't move an inch. I know what she'll do if she gets the chance: she'll wisp out her knife and scar me for life- literally. I know where her knives are and see her fingers inching to grab the one on her thigh. I finally reach her, knowing that she'll wait until I touch her to attack. Loads of the other guys are after her so she's had practice to

I quickly press my lips against her's and slide my hand down for the knife just incase she decides to use it. At first her hand stays firm gripping the knife but then I feel her relaxing and her arms slide up and hook around my neck drawing me in closer to her gorgeous body. I've kissed more than my fair share of girls in my time so I know a good kiss when I have one. This is way better than a good kiss…it's great! She wraps her legs around my waist and I ram her into the wall. I want to do some much more with her but we're interrupted when we hear James (the trainer) laughing a little.

"Well well well, what do we have here?" both our heads jerk round in surprise.

"Looks like the little girl has finally grown up" he's smile turns into one that you'd expect to see on a villain in Batman. She gets down and asks him sounding completely serious

"Do you mean what I think you mean" he nods and says

"Welcome to the games miss Jackson"

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What do you guys think? Any good? Please tell me what you think :) Thanks for reading! x


	2. finally my chance

Chapter 2 – Finally! My chance

Clove's POV 

He takes one final step closer. Our noses are practically touching. Too bad they aren't I'd love to beat him up. In the past guys have actually passed out from the pain. My hand reaches down and grabs the cold handle of my knife. His lips entwine with mine making my insides turn to mush. His hands slide down my arms and settle on my hand, I don't think he believes that I won't kill him on the spot. I still don't believe it, then I feel him start to pull back and I know I have to make this last longer. Without even thinking I let go of the knife and let my arms go around his neck making sure he can't pull away from me. I wrap my legs around his waist as he slams me up against the wall. He's so hot. Then it all gets ruined by the sound of laughing at the doorway. Our heads simultaneously look round to see James standing there. He talks for a minute before saying something I never thought he would. "Looks like the little girl has finally grown up" he's letting me go into the games! I slide down Cato's manly body and make sure he's being serious. He is. A smile has spread across my face and I'm afraid it'll be permanent. It's FINALLY my chance to get everything I've worked for all my life! Nothing can stop me now.

James' POV

I walk into the training center expecting to see Clove hard at work. She's got talent I'll give her that but she's still only 15 and I haven't ever seen her even say a nice word to someone else never mind get them to like her. If she's going into the games she'll need sponsors. When I turn the door handle I get a shock. Clove is her but she has her body wrapped around someone else's – Cato. He's one of the most ruthless kids you'll ever see. He has the same problem as Clove but because his mum's a victor and he has had TONS of girls falling down at his feet I think he'll do just fine with sponsors.

As I walked down the steps that lead to the training center I was contemplating some difficult decisions I had to make. Well one anyway. I knew I should enter Cato into the games because he's got the talent and even though he's cocky he'll get tons of sponsors. Clove on the other hand, well, she's different. She's got the talent for sure and all the boys are after her but her attitude lets her down. She trains none stop, not letting anyone in and when a boy so much as touches her she fills them with agony. Normally I would tell her what the problem is and make her work it out but I haven't so much as seen her utter a nice word to someone else. If I tell her then she'll just pretend and when she gets to the games she'll go back to normal again like a little kid.

That's when I saw something that KNOW ONE would have seen coming. Not in the history of man kind: Clove and Cato making out! From the way they're wrapped around each other and are up against the wall I'd have said they were fighting. Or at least I would if it wasn't for the kissing. I decide I've seen enough I get their attention and deliver the good news. She's obviously got Cato to like her so maybe she can be trusted to go into the games. I take a chance and give her what she wants. It only hits me once I've told her: I'm also entering Cato, well maybe one of them won't win the competition so they won't have to kill each other.

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Training

Cato's POV

During training Clove completely ignores me. If I didn't know better I'd think she's ashamed of our kiss. Finally James reads my mind and pairs us up for hand to hand combat. I HAVE to talk to her.

"What's your problem?"

"What do you mean?" she sounds completely calm as she tackles me to the ground I flip her over and after a bit of a fight I manage to pin her down. I make sure her arms are flat on the floor before I speak again

"You've barely looked at me since our kiss"

"Look, I've been entered into the games; I HAVE to focus on my training"

"All you ever do is train, you need a break!"

"If I have a break then I'll die, it's not an option"

We leave the conversation there and go back to how we were before if not a little friendlier which I guess is something.

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The competition 

On the morning of the competition I get myself ready for a hard fight I could not have been further from what I was really up against. It was such an easy fight! One guy I fought actually saw me and ran away. I didn't even have to catch him because he's already cut his finger with a knife to for fit the round.

I win easily and get ready for a real fight…the 74th hunger games.

I sneak in to watch the girls' competition. I watch intently as Clove slashes the neck of some poor girl at least twice her size. She drops to the floor and Clove doesn't look back when she walks over the body. She doesn't care about the face that you're not meant to kill, she just likes the feeling. She's crowned the winner and is announced as 'the luck girl who can volunteer for the 74th hunger games' Then it dawns on me. I'm the boy tribute and she's the girl tribute. We have to kill each other! Crap. This is NOT good.

She's the first girl that I've ever actually felt a connection with and now we have to go into an arena to fight.


	3. realisation

**Hey people! Sorry this is late but hopefully i can make up for it becasue it's the longest chapter yet... hope you enjoy!**

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Chapter 3 

Clove's POV

_I climb down the tree underneath my window and find that when I reach the bottom- where I would normally jump down- my feet don't connect with the ground but with someone's strong shoulders. Well this is weird. "Oh. I'm s-sorry. I didn't see y-you there" I say stumbling over my words as I climb off of them embarrassed."s'ok. I saw you" confused I look round to see who it is. Cato"Are you stalking me or something?" I sound as if I'm joking but I'm not. He could be for all I know. He's everywhere I am lately. Or at least I notice him more. "Don't worry. I was just out for a run and I thought I'd stop by and wish you good luck for today" It takes everything I have to stop myself laughing."It's not me who needs luck. It's the other girls, they're pathetic" he smirks and walks away from me. For a second I feel the urge to chase after him. It's only a second mind because I suddenly feel his lips pressed against mine. It feels good, right. _

I wake up with a pain in my shoulder. I've rolled out of bed. Before I get up I lean my head against the floor and think about my dream. That was the first night I'd ever dreamed about Cato Jones it was … good. I mean he kissed me. I've noticed him looking at me in training and to be honest when I sneak a glance at him I do think he's quite fit. Maybe I could- no. I can't let myself think of him in that way. If I do and we get put into the games together then I'll never be able to kill him and I'll die at his merciless hands.

I pick myself up and shake off the memory of the dream. I know that this is going to be a great day. It's the competition. I climb back into bed because my clock says that it's only 2 am and I'll need my strength later. My eye lids feel instantly heavy. I don't need my alarm to wake me up. At 5am I shoot out of bed and get ready for the day. I barely slept last night because of my excitement and my weird dreams; I wonder what it'll be like on the night before we enter the arena… I loose myself in thought and by the time I'm snapped back to reality I find that I've gotten showered and dressed without even knowing it. Now that's a skill-not.

I creak my door open hoping that because it's my big day my parents won't mind me going through the house at this time in the morning (normally they prefer me 2 go out of my window incase I wake them) looks like it wasn't me waking them they should have been worried about. I take three steps out of my room before I hear crying – I've woken my baby brother up – shit! I hear my mother starting to get out of her bed. If I get caught here I don't think she'll have any sympathy for me. I go back into my room and climb out of the window.

This time when I climb down the tree I take care to look where I jump. There's no-one there and I relax a little knowing that my dream was just me being silly.

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The competition

The first few rounds are easy, as I expected, but when it gets to the last round I see someone in the crowd – someone who's not suppost the be here – Cato. Judging from the fact that he has blood splattered on his check I'm guessing that he's won the boys competition. A small pain hits me in my arm and I realize that I'm still fighting. Without effort I slit the girl's throat and watch as her body slumps to the floor. She was useless anyway. I'm crowned the winner and walk out of the room without looking back. I can't let Cato know how I feel otherwise he'll just use that to his advantage and kill me.

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Two days later 

I walk out of my bathroom and towel dry my hair. I've had a long shower because tomorrow's the reaping so I want to look clean and fresh when I step up on stage, if I look anything less than my best the other tributes will pin me down as an easy target and I'm NOT playing that role. The lights in my bedroom are off and I can't see anything but my instincts tell me that I'm not alone. This sometimes happens – when you win the competition the runner up might try and kill you before the reaping so they can volunteer instead. Luckily I have at least 20 knives stashed away in my room because when I was 9 my mother died and my dad started to drink, he's a violent drunk and he'd take his anger out on me, after a while I realized that my wounds were affecting my training and I couldn't just sit around while he attacked me – I had to stand up to him and fight back. It worked. Now he only occasionally comes into my room at night looking for a fight. I grab the nearest knife and start making my way across the room to where I have another one hidden. Then I hear footsteps and know that my instincts are right. There's someone here.

There's a sudden blaze of light and I'm blinded for a second before I see who flicked the switch. 3 guess' who… Cato. He has a smirk on his face that he never seems to lose when he laughs and says

"What you gonna do? Kill me?"

"Yeah but I guess I'll just have to wait until the games" he reaches across the dresser to grab something and I instantly throw my knife towards his hand. The blade lands right between two of his fingers. Great, now my aim is going off too. I try to play it off as if I meant it to land there.

"Next time I throw a knife I won't miss" I say warningly. He only laughs which just infuriates me further.

"Is that a challenge?" normally I would just throw another knife but he's going to be dead soon so I think I should just play along also I think he is kinda-no. stop it, pull yourself together.

"Maybe" I lean across the counter and try to sound sexy but I'm not sure if it works.

Cato's POV

I couldn't help myself. I had to see her. It's been 2 days since the competition and tomorrows the reaping. Tonight I was out running and I saw her climb up the tree by her house and through her window. She left it open so I just thought I would climb up and hopefully find myself in her bedroom. It takes me about 20 minutes to figure out how to climb the tree because I've never climbed one before since the only trees around here are in the woods and Clove's the only one who ever goes in there. If it wasn't her the peacekeepers would have killed her a long time ago but she terrifies them all. I love it.

Thank God! I'm in her room! My head swivels round at the sound of the shower. That's when I see something glint in the corner of my eye. I creep over to check it out even though she won't hear me over the water. Ha! It's a hidden knife! I wonder how many more there are… I'm pulled away from my thoughts by the sound of the water stopping. I throw the knife across the dresser, shut the blinds so there's no light and run to the other side of the room. She walks in and I can't help but be disappointed that she doesn't know I'm here. I decide to change that but just before I move forward to grab her waist she spins round. Wow she's good. I know that she still won't know it's me so I turn the lights on. That's when I get to see her properly: all she's wearing is a white towel which has been wrapped around her small body and her long black hair is out and dripping wet. She looks stunning. Then I notice that she has a knife in her hand. We have a bit of banter but when I lean over to grab the knife I had before she throws another one at me! I can't believe it! Luckily she misses and we continue with the joking conversation. Then I can't resist it any longer I move closer to her just like I did in the training center and we have another amazing kiss. She drops the knife and lifts her arms around my neck to deepen the kiss. I pick her up and carry her to the bed. Once I've put her down she stops me from going any further

"Stop. You know we can't, we're going into the games together" this takes me back a little bit, we're careers, we aren't suppost to be like this, but we are.

"I know, but I promise you that you're coming home" what made me say that? Now she's going to think I'm weak.

"What?! No! You can't!" now I know she really likes me. I can't help but smirk at the thought. She really likes me!

"Look, it's not up to you. Besides we can think about it when we're actually there, just forget I said anything okay?"

"No! I won't forget! Why would you say that?"

"Coz I'm not gonna let you die. Now will you just leave it or I'm going"

"No. I won't leave it! I won't let you do that!" I get up and start making my way to the window then I feel a small hand on my arm pulling me back.

"Don't go. Please." Her eyes are filled with sorrow and I know that I should leave it until we're there. I smile and kiss her to tell her that I really like her. We stay up all night, just talking and kissing. It's the best night of my life.

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**Hope you enjoyed it! Please review! I'll post another chapter when i get (drum roll please) another 10 reviews! DUM DUM DUM! lol. anyways please tell me what you think. bye!**


	4. the next morning

Chapter 4

Cato's POV

When I wake up Clove is cuddling into me. We talked for hours last night and I guess fell asleep eventually. It's the reaping today, I know I should go but she looks so peaceful I can't quite pull myself away. I can't help but stare at how beautiful she is…then I hear something a little odd…"OI WAKE UP …YOU'RE SO USELESS CAN YOU EVER DO ANYTHING RIGHT?!" WTF? Oh it's her dad? That's a little strange…but ok. She stirs beside me and her head goes further into my neck, then she realizes that I'm here. Her eyes are open in a second and she jumps backwards.

"Morning" her eyes relax a little when she sees me smiling at her like a crazy person…don't judge me I can't help it!

"Morning…um…you want breakfast?" I can tell she's finding this awkward, while I'm just finding it funny. J

"Um…yeah but I think your dad wants to see you first he was yelling"

"Oh it's ok … he's drunk…like always"

"Is your mum here?" I can see a tear forming in the corner of her eye. What did I say? I've never seen Clove cry before…

"My mum died when I was 9" my mouth is open in shock and horror of what I've said

"Oh…Clove I'm so sorry I didn't know"

"S'ok…we kept it quiet you know" I nod

"Hold on. Did I just hear you right? Did Cato Jones actually apologize?"

"Shut up" My dominant smile is back again. She smiles too and we walk downstairs.

"DUCK!" I do as she says as a wooden chair comes flying towards us. Then I see the attacker. It's not some jealous runner up from the competition but a graying man with a bottle in his hand. It must be Clove's dad. She doesn't even hesitate to pull out one of her hidden knives and tackles him to the floor, holding the knife to his throat. He's screaming his head off. Both at her then at me. I guess it does look bad, I mean I've just came down from his 15 year old daughter's bedroom. Oops. He kicks her off and comes charging towards me. I don't even have to think about it: I've blocked his attack easily and have punched him across the face so he falls to the marble floor, unconscious.

"Sorry. Impulse" I help Clove up.

"Don't worry about it, he's always like that, it's why I trained with knives actually, they were the common weapon to use"

"Do you mean he always tries to kill you?"

"Well he doesn't always try to _kill _me but yeah pretty much, he started drinking after mum died…he's getting better though, but sometimes he just... starts" I can't believe she's had to deal with him for 6 years! No wonder she won't let anyone protect her. That's meant to be his job and he's just let her down time after time! The only good thing I can see that he's done for her is that he's made her tough. I can tell that this is a lot for her to tell me especially since she never lets anyone in. We decide to eat breakfast in her room incase he comes round and we get injured before the reaping.

We sit on her bed facing each other and I decide to tell her a little about my life. I tell her about my parents, how my mum won the games and how she never has time for me now. She's away most of the year coz she's a mentor so I barely get to see her. Whenever she is home all we talk about is my training and the games. My dad did a runner when I was 2 and nobody really knows what happened to him so I'm home alone a lot. I can tell she's really listening to me and actually cares. When I'm finished she tells me more about her past and I realize how hard it must have been. She's had to look after herself since she was 9 having no-one for her to lean back on. She didn't just lose her mum when she died but she lost her dad too.

At 12 O'clock I decide that I should be getting home because I'm still wearing what I was wearing yesterday and I was training too so I need a shower. As I climber out of the window she laughs a little as I stumble desperately trying to find my balance. She grabs my hand to keep me up right and plants a soft kiss on my lips before letting go and turning back to her room. All the way home and when I'm getting ready all I can think about is Clove. I know I've fallen for her, hard. Great. This is just typical isn't it? The perfect love story. That will always end in death.

Clove's POV

I wake up and find that I'm not alone. I jolt backwards startled and see Cato grinning widely at me.

"Morning"

"Morning…um…you want breakfast?" eh…what am I meant to say? Thanks for stopping, see ya later? No. That doesn't seem like the right thing to say.

We have a bit of a run in with my dad which isn't anything new for me but I can tell he's shocked. We have breakfast and he actually opens up to me. I always thought that he had an easy life coz his mum's a victor but I was wrong. The thought never accrued to me to ask him about his dad, or what happens when his mum goes to the capital. Once he's done I find myself telling him everything about my family. I've never told anyone that stuff. Why do I feel so safe when I'm with him when I know he could potentially be my murderer? I give in. I think I'm in love. That's two things I thought I'd never say. See what he does to me?

After he's gone I start getting ready and when I glance at my reflection in the mirror I can't recognize myself. My hair is down and wavy with a single small plat running down my check and blending in with my brunette hair, I'm wearing a knee-length brown dress which flows out when I walk, I've done my makeup (I don't wear it much because my mother was the one who taught me how to put it on) and I'm even wearing the one pair of high heels I own - sure they're black ankle boots and don't really go with the dress but they make me look taller and more intimidating. I walk down the stairs taking care not to trip because of my inexperience of walking in these shoes and when I see my dad hunched over the table sobbing into another bottle of beer I almost wonder why I made the effort. Like anyone's going to notice around here…although after last night and this morning I wouldn't be surprised if I can at least get Cato to smile. I don't think he's ever seen me like this before.

My dad looks up and I clench my fist around a knife. There's no way I'm getting a black eye today.

"Hello darling, you look…nice" I'm completely taken back. He's actually talked to me! And it was a complement! I can't believe it!

"What's the occasion princess?"

"The reaping, I'm volunteering" I try to make my voice kind and forgiving but somehow it comes out sounding cold and bitter. I guess I've just had a lot of practice.

"You look just like your mother" I prepare myself for an attack at the mention of her but instead I find myself looking at a broken man crying into his alcohol. I walk over to him and causally place a hand on his shoulder.

"You're grown up now Clove. I'm sorry I haven't been there for you" the next thing I say completely surprises me.

"It's ok dad. I'm ok" he looks up at me and smiles. I think that he's only the second man I've ever let smile at me (the first being Cato)

"Well, seen as it's your special day I think I should get cleaned up a bit" wow. This is a VERT strange morning. First I find myself in love with the person who could be my killer, then I wear makeup and high heels and to top it all off my dad comes back from where ever he has been for the past 6 years. Somehow I find myself wishing that I didn't have to go into the games now. I want to stay here because everything's just starting to go in my favor. I shake myself free of the thought because I know I'm coming home and I know that even if I don't my final days will be spent with Cato. Dad comes down the stairs a little shakily so I know that he's not completely sober yet but I don't mind because he's showered, brushed his tangled hair and put on clean clothes. He looks like a smart business man without the briefcase **(AN: sorry for the stereotype I didn't mean to offend anyone) **we make our way to the square and I can tell that I'm not the only one who's amazed by his appearance. Everyone stops and stares at us like we were some newly discovered animals. Even the peacekeepers stop to see us. I'm reminded of when they tried to take me to the community home but I wouldn't give up and I overpowered them even though I was only 9. That's one of the reasons we kept mum's death quiet.

I stand in the roped off section where all the other 15 year olds are and wait for our escort Sapphire Moore to read out the tributes names so I can volunteer. I catch Cato glance at me and give him a weak smile. It's time for the reaping. Time for the beginning of the hunger games.

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**Hope you guys liked it! A small note to HungerGamesDistrict12Escort: They didn't _do_ anything. You know why? Coz this is rated T NOT M! ;)**

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	5. The reaping

**AN: Hey people! Sorry it's been so long since I updated. My grandma had to go into hospital! :( Anyways she's ok now so I got round to writing this. Hope you enjoy it!**

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Chapter 5

Cato's POV

I'm standing in the roped off section with the rest of the 16 year olds. Clove will be standing in the section behind me because she's a year younger. I've been looking for her for about 10 minutes when I see something that completely shocks me. Clove AND her dad! Normally he'd come last out of the district to the reaping arriving at around half 1 (everyone gets here quite fast because they are excited to know who will volunteer) Clove goes to her section and I can't help but look her way, she gives me an encouraging smile which sends me into over load. I'm not going into the arena to win anymore. I'm going to protect her.

I give her a wink just as our annoying escort trots onto the stage. She's a little um… how do I put this? She's…_different. _Most of the escorts (even district 12's) are excited for the games because they're from the capital, but ours? Well…she likes to get her part done fast.

"Welcome, welcome" all you can hear from us is the sound of crickets in the background. As much as we despise her everyone in district 2 adores the games so we all want to see the future victor up on our stage.

"So, let's get the boys over with shall we?" see even the order she announces the tributes is different.

"James - " I cut her off "I volunteer. I volunteer as tribute" we always have volunteers so she's not surprised. She just throws the slip of paper over her shoulder and beckons me onto the stage.

"What's your name?"

"Cato Jones" I try to sound confident and cocky (which isn't too hard) so I can get sponsors. Even if their gifts will be used to help Clove it's always good to have them.

"Now, it's the girls turn…oh great" I can see that Clove is filling her lungs with air so she can shout loud enough to be heard clearly but she doesn't get the chance.

"Clove Jackson" Wow. What are the odds? She must have had her name in a few extra times because her dad doesn't work. Huh.

She struts up the steps looking as sexy as ever in… are those high heels? And make-up? She's really made an effort! Too be fair she has always looked beautiful so she didn't need to. She stands like a true career with her tanned arms folded neatly across her chest and a cool smirk spread across her face.

Only I can see through her disguise. I know it's a mask she's putting on because I'm wearing the same one myself. I try to cheer her up by asking if I can take back my volunteering. It seems to work and I'm rewarded with a huge smile from her.

When Sapphire Moore tells us to shake hands we just laugh. Most people think it's because we hate each other, they couldn't be more wrong. Still, we take each other's hand and I squeeze hers affectionately making sure she knows that she's coming home.

We're ushered into the justice building which doesn't quite block the cheers coming from outside the wooden doors. Everyone knows that one of us will win no matter who the other tributes are - the only question is which one of us?

We're guided into two separate rooms where our family and friends will soon come to say their 'goodbyes'. In our district it's mainly just to congratulate us. My mum comes in and tells me some good strategies that I'm guessing she won't go and tell Clove. She's a genius when it comes to strategies, and on more than one occasion I've had random people approaching me and telling me how much of a legend she is. The reason for this isn't just because she won the games but _how_ she won them. It only took her a week. When they were all standing on their pedestals waiting for the count down to end she took her district token apart and started throwing the pieces at the other tributes. Of course their land mines went off blowing them sky-high and sending all her threats into death. The capital wasn't too happy but because there wasn't any rule against it they just made a new one. 'all district tokens tributes wish to take into the arena with them must first be checked by a team of impartial game makers' Our few minutes goes by in a blur and I find that I've barely listened to her. Well I know everything there is to know about winning the games so it doesn't really matter. The rest of my three minutes are spent with my friends. They all talk about how hot Clove is and how I should have some fun with her before I kill her. My hands are clenched into fists and I'm fighting the urge to punch them in their stupid faces.

Clove's POV

Cato looks like a god up on that stage. He has sun-kissed skin and his bulging muscles are clearly visible under his white shirt. (Probably what he wanted) Then Sapphire moves over to the girls' bowl and I take a deep breath. This is it. I volunteer and go into the hunger games with the only boy that I've ever loved. If I win I'll have to kill him, if I lose he's most likely going to be my murderer. Turns out I can't win after all. Even if I do he's not here not come back to so what's the point?

I'm ripped from my thoughts when I hear the name being read out. It's mine. Guess I'm meant to go in whether I like it or not. I try to act bored and confident as I make my way onto the stage but it's hard and I'm not sure if anyone buys my act. By the looks I get I'm pretty sure they do. Dad looks so proud but there's a hint of something in his eye that I can't quite place, then it hits me, it's a look I've seen thousand of times before in my victim's eyes. Fear.

Cato obviously picks up on my real attitude and tries to lighten the mood. He walks over to Sapphire and whispers loudly enough so that everyone can hear him:

"It's ok, never mind, I'll just volunteer next year" I can't tell if he was trying to make me sound tough and get me sponsors or whether he was just trying to make me smile. Either way I think it worked because I'm smiling like a kid in a sweet shop and I'm sure if anyone hears _Cato Jones_ say something like that their going to be afraid. Very afraid. The audience erupts in laughter and Sapphire shakes her head, Cato pouts playfully and slumps his shoulders while he walks back to his place. Then he snaps back into the charming boy we all know and kinda fear and winks at the crowd. I swear at least 4 girls faint. Fury builds up in me... why? Why should I care that they faint when he winks at them?

When we're told to shake hands I can't quite hold in my laugh. How do they expect me to let go of his hand once I've held it in mine? Thankfully I manage it. He looks into my eyes and I know he's still planning on me coming home. Well not if I have anything to do with it.

Once we're in the justice building and the manic screams have finally died down so much as you can hear what someone's saying to you the door creeks open. It's dad. I surprise myself when I run into his open arms. He holds me and strokes my hair.

"Hey, hey it's ok you're going to be fine" I know he's trying to convince himself rather than me. "So…what's up with that Cato boy? We never really got to talk this morning" he releases me and we sit down.

"Yeah sorry about that. We just talked for a while and fell asleep. Thought we might as well get some breakfast"

"Uh huh. I believe you" sarcasm drips from his sentence. Just like everyone else from our district. Oh my God! This could be the last time I'm in district 2! *SOB* Eh no. I'm too strong to cry.

"So what, are you two dating now? Or is that not allowed because of the games?" I can tell this is as awkward for him as it is for me

"I don't know. I guess I'll find out soon though" he smiles sadly

"Don't worry, I saw the way he looked at you, it's the same way I looked at your mother, he'll protect you with his life. I'm just worried that you'll do the same for him" I have no words to answer him. No cheeky comment. I must be having on off day or maybe I just realized what he means. Cato loves me like I love him. We both know I can't answer so we hug again for a long time. Then the peacekeepers are pulling him away from me. It's too fast. I need more time.

"I'll see you soon ok?" I nod

"I love you"

"I love you too dad" he smiles in relief as if he didn't think I'd really still love him after all this time. But I do, he's my dad, the man who'd read me bed time stories and rocked me back to sleep when I woke up with nightmares. I know I shouldn't cave in so easily since he couldn't even be bothered to conjure up the strength to protect me from his own attacks for the last 6 years but I can't help but love him. Just in a VERY different way that I love Cato. Ew! Bad thought. Don't even go there.

Cato's POV

I sit in silence with my thoughts for a few minutes contemplating what will happen over the next few days. Here's what I come up with:

We'll go to the capital, the tribute parade, training (even though we don't need any), private sessions, interviews, I'll protect Clove in the games and when it gets down to the final two I'll kill myself and die.

I think it's quite a depressing plan but it's the only one I've got. A peacekeeper comes in and brings me back into the blinding light. When my eyes adjust I see that it's not just the sun that's blinding but the flash of the cameras. Clove gives me a sideways smile and I return the look. I can't help but feel good knowing I have her by my side even if we are going into the games. She's here so I'm happy. We both smirk for the cameras and are practically shoved onto the train by the ever approaching paparazzi. It's beauty makes us both stop and stare.

Even though it's a train it has carvings all along the roof, elegant paintings on the walls, a lush soft carpet, vibrant red curtains and every type of snack you could imagine laid out on a table in front of us. Sapphire leaves to get our mentors and they come in the opposite way that she left to introduce themselves. I think they just didn't want to be near her. I'd do the same if I were them. Sadly it's not my mother this year because it'd be 'an unfair advantage for me to be mentored by my own mum'. So we have Enobaria (who tore off a tribute's neck with her teeth so she has now got golden fangs – thanks to the capital sergeants) and Brutus (he just won it the normal way - killing with weapons instead of his teeth) They start by giving us a lecture about the cornucopia bloodbath. Neither me or Clove are listening though because we've heard them talk about the games so much when they visit the training center that there's nothing left for them to tell us. Just specific ways to get sponsors but other than that. Nothing.

Instead of getting headaches from their speech we break away from the 'dining car' of the train and try to find our bedrooms. Even though we're close to the capital and the train journey will only take a few hours we still have them. Clove turns into her room and awes at it's splendor. I've got a bedroom a lot like this at home so I'm not too impressed but I can tell she is. I follow her in and sit on the bed.

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**Thanks for reading!**

**Please review and tell me what you think! **

**I was kidding when I asked if you wanted it to be changed to a M but I've actually had a request for it. So, I've decided that if 5 reviews telling me you want the rating changed then I will but if I don't get 5 requests then I'll keep it as a T. Fair?**

**Love you guys! bye! :) x**


	6. I love you

Chapter 6 – the train

Clove's POV

I walk into my bedroom and am taken back by how gorgeous it is. The carvings and paintings seem to continue all the way through the train but it's more the contence of the room that I'm looking at. My eyes flicker at all the marvelous things. There's nowhere to put clothes because I won't need to change. Instead of filling the room with wardrobes and draws it's filled with vast and decorative objects. I bet their happy the youngest tribute is 12 and they know not to touch because otherwise there'd be mayhem. In one corner there is a cupboard with an expensive looking vase perched on top, it has a pattern painted on and looks like a dragon, there's a shelf with every beauty product you could imagine, there's an on-suite, a plasma screen TV and to top it all off there's a king sized bed! I just want to do a run and jump onto it. There's just one problem with that. Cato's sitting on the edge of it so I can't. Once I'm done surveying the room, I turn my attention back to him. Placing both my hands on my hips I raise an eyebrow and try to sound innocent when I say

"Can I help you?" he smirks before turning serious

"We need to talk" I pick up on the atmosphere and sit down next to him

"Yeah, I think we do" we talk for a while and in the end agree to keep our relationship a secret so the cameras and other tributes don't find out. We'd be marked as easy targets with easy to manipulate weaknesses if they knew. That'd never do now would it?

We're still sitting on the bed when there's a loud knock on my door. Hurriedly I shoo Cato away, he tries to hide under the bed but we find that the space is too small for him to fit in and he ends up in the on-suite shower with the curtain closed just in case. This is going to be fun.

"Come in" the doorknob turns and Sapphire walks in

"Hello Clove"

"Um…hi" I might as well _try _not to be rude. It's harder than it sounds.

"I was just coming to tell you that we'll be at the capital in 20 minutes"

"Oh ok. Thanks" I have to get her out of here before Cato comes out.

She hesitates and I can't stop myself. I still try not to be rude though

"Was there something else?"

"Well, the thing is… I have to tell Cato now and I knocked on his door, I think he's asleep, I doubt he'll be very happy if I wake him" I let out a sigh

"I'll do it" I sound bored and hopefully she now thinks she owes me a favor. That could come in handy you never know.

"Oh thank you" she rushes out of the door as if she was afraid I'd change my mind. I slouch over towards the on-suite and open the door.

"Cato you can come out now" he smiles and wraps his arms around me pulling me close and kissing me quickly

"Who was it?"

"Sapphire" I wrap my arms around his neck

"Pfft. What did she want?" he rolls his eyes and looks back deep into mine

"We're arriving at the capital in 20 minutes, she wanted me to get her out of telling you incase you were asleep" he lets out a laugh and kisses me again.

Cato's POV

Both me and Clove wave at the adoring fans that await us at the train station. They know we've got the best chance of winning. I've gotta say though, I've never really been a fan of the capital fashion sense. It's always seemed stupid to me. I think everyone who doesn't live in the here thinks the same. Maybe even a few that do.

It's only a short car journey to the building where we'll be staying in before the games, you can't even see the doors though thanks to the massive of colourful and cheerful people screaming like crazy in front of them.

We sign a few autographs, take a few photos and please the crowd with huge smiles then I see something that makes my blood boil. Clove blows a kiss to a boy around 18 and he winks at her. I protectively move closer to her gently push her inside the safety of the doors. I don't know what I'd do if _that _continued. We ride in the elevator in silence. Then we step out and she catches my arm making sure I don't walk off.

"You ok?" Of course Clove picks up on my mood

"I'm fine" I snap.

"No you're not. Tell me or I'll make you sleep in your own room tonight" I can't help but let a smug look come across my face

"So…where was I sleeping if not in my room tonight?" she looks down embarrassed then snaps back to her usual self.

"What, you weren't planning on keeping me safe?" using sarcasm as always.

"I thought you didn't need keeping safe"

"I don't but you do I just let you think your protecting me" I'm confused.

"Eh…" she laughs a little at my less than unintelligible response

"So why are you upset?" I'm instantly angry even though I was joking around just a few seconds ago.

"That _boy _was flirting with you" I have to spit out my words in discust. She raises an eyebrow

"So? Were you jealous?" I blush

"No. I – I just wanted to make sure you know what you're doing"

"_I'm _making the crowd like me. Beside you don't need to worry it's not like he has a chance, I'm in to someone else" my heart breaks in two

"Really? Who?" she laughs again. Is it just me who_ isn't _finding the conversation funny?

"It's you idiot" she playfully nudges me and pecks me lightly on the lips.

I smile knowing how she really feels and I can't help the next words that come out of my mouth.

"I love you" I breathe. It's so quiet that for a minute I think she didn't hear me. I hope she didn't, that was nothing like me. Why did I say that?

"I love you to" she whispers and a smile comes to my face, a smile only she can bring out. We pull each other close and kiss then when we break apart we place out foreheads together and stay like that for a long time before I unwilling become aware of my surroundings and pull away.

We're standing just outside the doors of the elevator on the second floor of the training building. This floor is going to be our home for the next few days as we do our last preparations for the games. Our mentors and escort have abandoned us in search of entertainment, we're all alone but somehow I have a sense that we should be weary of who could see us.

Tomorrow is the tribute parade and we'll start our long awaited schedule as tributes. I thought it'd be a bit more packed but I suppose their just helping us into it slowly. We get to relax tonight because there's nothing else we should be doing. Most of the tributes will still be on the train now and we're not allowed into the training floor until everyone's arrived so I guess it just leaves me with a few options on what to do. It's still a few hours before dinner and we've been instructed to clean up a bit. I take Clove's hand and lead her towards one of the bedrooms. It has a sign hanging on the door saying 'district 2 girl tribute' so I'm gonna take a wild guess and say it's her room not mine.

As soon as the door is shut she pounces on me. I immediately respond, kissing her roughly knowing she loves it that way. I push her up against the door and she wraps her legs around my waist. This reminds me of the first time we kissed, luckily James isn't here to interrupt us and send us to these stupid sick games. It's funny how I only see them as what they really are now as there about to take me away from my true love and rip my heart to shreads. I only have a few days left in this world. I'm going to spend every second of them with Clove and cherish every the time I have with her. I'm going to make the most of what short amount of life I have left.


	7. Caught

Chapter 7 

Clove's POV

My eyes flutter open and I find that I'm curled up in Cato's arms with my face in his neck. I smile and snuggle into him some more loving the safe feeling it gives me. I don't know what's happening. In the space of a few days I've changed completely. I was a heartless killer who'd do anything to win the games and wouldn't let anyone in. Now I'm still the killer but I'm no longer heartless, my heart belongs to Cato. I've let him in and I never want to let him go.

Last night we skipped dinner (having a lot fun annoying Sapphire of course) and just stayed in my room. We talked and kissed and spend another great night together. It's just so easy to be with him. I've told him things that I've never told anyone before. I'd trust him with my life – literally. My head fills with images of him and I drift off to sleep again because it isn't light yet.

A few hours later

I'm woken up not by the comforting sound of Cato's voice but the unfamiliar screeching of a capitolite. I look up and see Sapphire looming over my bed staring at us. Her mouth hanging wide open in shock. I can't help but smirk.

"Oh, Sapphire is it time to get up?" She ignores my obvious un-serious question

"What's going on? Why's he here?" God she's loud! Cato shifts next to me and I can tell that he's woken up. He pulls me close and whispers a 'good morning' into my ear. Sapphire goes bezurk! We're about to start what will defiantly be the argument of the century when a large group of people barge into the room. Crashing against each other as they come to investigate the unbearable sound of Sapphire's ultra-sonic screams. There's Brutus, Enobaria and 8 people that I don't recognize. They must be our stylists and prep teams.

Great. That's just perfect. *Note the sarcasm*

Cato's POV

I've just woken up and there are 11 people in the room staring at me and Clove in the bed. What a great way to start the day! I bet Clove's pissed that they've seen her snuggling into me. As far as I know I'm the only one who's seen this side of her. I hope I am anyway.

Brutus is the first one to speak after the shock of seeing us.

"Will someone please explain to me what the hells going on?" I sigh and look at Clove.

"We're…" I try to find the right word "…together" I shrug as if it was obvious. They all gasp. There's a short pause as the news sinks in. What were they expecting me to say after they found us in bed together? 'Oh we were just out horse riding and fell asleep together in Clove's bed?' They are TOTAL idiots.

"Well sorry but there's no place for love in the games. You're not going to be _together_ any more" Enobaria is such a cow at times. Clove speaks up then.

"You're not the boss of us!" she sounds really angry and I can feel her reaching for one of her hidden knives under the sheets. I quickly grab her hand to stop her and her head snaps round to look at me. Her pony tail unintentionally whips me in the face. At least I hope it was unintentional. I ignore her death glare and turn my attention to Enobaria.

"She's right. You're not the boss of us. But I see where you're coming from. People will see our weaknesses if we expose them. So we've decided to keep our relationship a secret." Brutus scoffs

"Great job so far" Do you know how people say sarcasm is the lowest form of wit? Well in our district sarcasm is the most commonly used form of wit. It's easy so why not? I give him a death glare and he shuts up but he's a victor and he won't be silenced that easily so there's still a smirk playing on his aged face. Moron.

"If you two are going to keep this a secret then I don't think it's such a good idea that you sleep together" it's one of the people I don't know

"And who are you to tell us what to do?" I know the fury shows in my voice and she cringes. Slowly edging to the wall incase I attack. Good move.

"She's right. You've been left in our care and the last thing we need is for you to get pregnant" Sapphire directs the last bit to Clove of course. She just rolls her eyes.

"I can promise you I'm not pregnant" I wish she hadn't said that, now they all know we haven't…you know.

"I've had enough of this" Brutus seems to have found his voice again and starts pulling Clove away from me. My grasp on her tightens and my eyes burn with anger. How dare he even think about taking her away from me!

He sees that it's no use pulling her away because I'm MUCH stronger than he is so he lets go. I can see the red ring on her arm his enormous hand left and I can't help myself. He hurt her! I roll Clove onto the other side of the bed and jump at him. Easily pinning him to the wall. He struggles at first but then realizes it's useless. I have no idea how he managed to win the games. My arm is across his shoulders and my body placed so that he can't escape. I feel someone tugging at my shoulders and know that it's Sapphire. No-one other than Clove and Enobaria would dare touching me. Clove isn't stupid and knows that I'm doing this because of her so she wouldn't try to stop me and Enobaria couldn't care less if I killed Brutus. But like I said before. Sapphire's different. She's also very very stupid if she thinks she can beat me.

Then she's ripped from me and I turn my head to see Clove pinning her up against the wall next to me with a knife to her throat. I wink at her, proud. We're about to deliver their painful deaths when Enobaria stops us.

"Enough. You two can stay together, just don't get caught there are cameras everywhere. Speaking of which what are you going to say when Panam realizes one of your mentors and your escort have been killed? You'll be punished that's for sure" she sounds almost bored.

"We're here to kill remember" Great Clove's found a loophole!

"Yeah, you are, in the games, if the game makers realize that you've killed them you can be sure that they'll kill you the second they get the chance" we both sigh knowing she's right. I guess we're just going to have to wait until the arena to kill. That's going to be hard with these annoying idiots around all the time. Clove drops her knife and puts it back into its case on her thigh. Before I let go of Brutus I make sure he knows where he stands

"Hurt her again and I won't even hesitate. It'll be so long and painful that you'll be begging for death. Got that?" he nods shakily and I let go of him. If I hadn't seen his games or seen him in the training center demolish the dummies with his sword I'd have been REALLY confused at how he survived this long.

I turn round to face Clove. She's smiling which makes me smile back. Then I notice what we're wearing. I'm only wearing my boxers and she's wearing a see through top that goes down to her thighs, a black bra and matching knickers. She looks so hot that I can't even wait until everyone's out of the room. I pick her up and kiss her passionately. She laughs a little and I take that as a good sign.

I hear mutters and tuts coming from behind me but I couldn't care less. All I care about is that Clove is here and we're together. I know that she's amazingly talented with her knives but I can't help but be protective of her. Today's the beginning of the end I guess.

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**AN: Ok so this was really just a bit of fun to put in before the tribute parade. Hope you guys enjoyed it! If you have any ideas or suggestions for other random chapters like this I'd love to hear them! *cough* review *cough* **

**Most of you who have reviewed have asked me to keep it a T so your wish is my command.**

**I'm going on holiday tomorrow morning so I probably won't be updating for a few days but I'm taking my laptop with me so hopefully I might get some writing done. If not I'll update as soon as I can. **

**Love you guys! Thanks for reading! :) **


	8. The tortures of prep

**Hey guys! I'm back (if you didn't notice then you need your eyes testing) Sorry it's been so long since I updated but I went on holiday and there was no wifi Grr! I was complaining NON STOP! But I did get a lot of writing done so I was going to upload it as soon as I got home but guess what? I got sick. Perfect, just perfect! Anyways I'm back now so here's the next chapter. Hope you enjoy and please tell me what you think! **

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Chapter 8 

Clove's POV

After a quick breakfast I'm pulled into a room where there are three people waiting for me. They were in my room this morning. Great. I'm guessing that this will be awkward.

"Hello" a girl steps forward. She has had her skin dyed purple, fluorescent pink lipstick, purpely –pink eye shadow that isn't subtle at all, sparkling eye liner and silver fake eyelashes that are at least 3 inches long. She seems confident, the leader of the group. You'd never tell that I'm a career would you?

"Hi" I'm a little embarrassed that they saw me in bed with Cato when I was barely wearing anything. Then I remember that they also saw me attack Sapphire so I guess their more frightened than judgmental. Good. I can relax a little knowing things are back to normal. Sorta anyway.

"I think we got off to a bad start this morning. Why don't we start again?" I nod happy to put the memory behind me.

"I'm Scarlett. This is Skye and Bella" She gestures to the two women standing shyly behind her. Skye has obviously taken advantage of her name because she has sky blue eyes, blue hair, blue lips and is wearing a blue jumpsuit. The only different colour in her entire appearance is her black belt. I almost ask her if she's cold. **(Get it coz she's blue? I know sad joke but whatever) **Bella seems…preoccupied. Her silver eyes are latched onto my neck where Cato has left a visible mark from last night. Oops. Wait silver eyes? She must be wearing contacts. I notice that she's dressed differently to the other two then. Their ridiculous outfits are centered around one particular colour but hers is completely random. She's wearing an extremely puffy orange tutu, red tights, green shoes, a yellow top, blue jacket, purple lipstick and pink glitter surrounding her eyes. Um…ok? I don't think I'll ever get used to the capital fashion sense.

Scarlett leads me over to a square in the middle of the floor which is slightly raised up. It gets a bit awkward then. They just stand there staring at me as if they're waiting for me to do something only I don't what. Finally Scarlett answers my unspoken question.

"You need to take off your clothes darling so we can see what we're working with" oh great. Is this a good time to mention I'm REALLY self conscious? I hesitate at first before caving knowing the sooner I do what they want the sooner I get this over with. I drag my top off over my head with reluctant hands and peel off my jeans. I fiddle with my hands unwilling to take any more off than that. They seem to notice and leave me be.

Simultaneously all three women start slowly circling me. Taking in my practically naked form. After about five minutes of me being unbelievably self-conscious as they stare and poke at me they finally hand me a robe. Thank God! Then it gets awkward again

"Sorry but I'm afraid we'll need to take those knives away" it's Bella who speaks now. Even though her capital accent is annoying her voice is soft and timid so I try my best not to sound too mad when I reply

"No. I won't let you take my knives away" I take a stance ready to pull one out at any time. I become more aware than ever of where they are. I always have them on me so it just seems natural now. There's one strapped to my right forearm, one on my waist, one on my left thigh which I use the most and one on my ankle. I try to keep them hidden under my robe but it's no use because they've already seen where they are.

"Why do you have all of them?" Bella's question takes me by surprise. Nobody from district 2 would ask that. They'd already know.

"To protect myself and to kill" I add the last part specifically to scare them out of the thought of taking them from me. By the looks of horror on their faces I think it's worked. Then Skye says something that surprises me

"If you don't trust us then you can hold them but we need to get the straps off so we can get you ready for Wallace" Who the hell is Wallace? Slowly I contemplate her offer. It's obvious to anyone with eyes that they can't fight so even if they did all attack me I'd be able to take them down no problem. I nod and start undoing the straps. One by one I hand them over to Skye. She carefully places each one on the table on the other side of the room. Once there all gone they get to work. After 4 hours of torture I'm finally ready. The 'mark' that Cato left has been removed – that capital medicine takes its job to an extreme! It took about 5 layers off skin off me as well! Every strand of hair on my body that they didn't want there has been taken care of. My legs are so smooth it feels strange at first, my eyebrows are sore because they've been plucked for so long and my hair has been trimmed so I no longer have any split ends. That I'm happy about at least. Then they scrubbed me down (soaking my underwear in the process because I refused to take them off) my skin glows and I smell like lavender. I hope that's a good thing. They let me sit down on the bed as they decide what to do with me. I catch most of their hushed conversation because of my well trained ears.

Scarlett: She's actually prettier than we thought. Maybe we shouldn't have left so much time to prep her with.

Skye: I like her, she seems fun.

Bella: So what do we do now? Wallace isn't expecting to see her until this afternoon. We can't exactly do anything else or he'll be furious.

Scarlett: I think we should just let her have an early lunch before handing her over to him.

Skye: ok. Sounds like a plan.

They turn to me and help me down before leading me through a series of passage ways until we're at the dinning room. I help myself to some fruit and eat silently while they talk at me. Not _to_ me. Just in my direction. After a while I give up on trying to sound at all bothered and just block them out. I'm off in a random daydream when I feel two strong hands wrap around my eyes. I instinctively reach for my dagger but realize it's in the prep room. I curse under my breath. Then I feel someone's chin resting on my shoulder and hear their familiar voice in my ear

"Miss me?" Someone's being as cocky as ever.

"Not really, too much to do" he laughs lightly and releases me. I stand up and turn around leaning on my tip toes to reach his mouth with mine.

Cato's POV

I'm almost regretting wanting to become a victor now. They've taken Clove away from me and shoved me into a completely white room. I'm about to kick off when I see 3 pairs of beady eyes watching me.

I 'met' them this morning. They all look terrified which I suppose they have good reason to be. I might as well get this over with so I can go back to Clove as quickly as possible.

"I'm Cato. Who are you?"

"I'm Percy, this is Monklaw and Keloso" they all look like tragedies waiting to happen

"Ok. So the quicker we get started the quicker I get to see Clove. Right?" they nod "Then what are you waiting for?" The morning drags and when I hear a door shutting I instantly know that Clove's out of her prep room. I ask if their done and they just hold up a lipstick.

"Oh hell no!" I flick the lipstick out of Keloso's hand and make my way to the door. It takes me quite a while to find the dinning room through the maze of corridors but I'm guided by the ever growing sound of voices. When I see Clove my face lights up. I place a finger to my lips to indicate that I don't want her to know I'm here and who I assume are her prep team obey. I lean down and put my hands over her eyes. I'm surprised that she hasn't at least made a stab at me but when she just sits still I lean further down and place me chin on her shoulder

"Miss me?" I can feel her smile and she visibly relaxes.

"Not really, too much to do" I laugh knowing she's lying and set her free from my grasp. Then she spins round and kisses me.

We both smile and I hold her hand wanting to be close to her. We eat lunch with our prep teams and they seem a little more at ease with us now that we're together and happy. Aw cute they think we still wont kill them if they try anything. Idiots. I sit next to Clove and we play footsy under the table. This is fun. I like this. This is a good time. Then it's all ruined. The purple woman whose name I've found out is Scarlett announces that it's time to take us to Wallace and Elisa. I don't like the sound of that. It means I'll be separated from Clove again and even if it is just for a few hours the thought makes me bristle then I realize something. Elisa is my stylist so Wallace is Clove's. He's gonna see her naked. Ok now I'm mad! Clove seems to read my mind and whispers to me so that know-one else can hear

"Don't worry. I didn't even take my underwear off with my prep team, and their all girls…I think" we both laugh a little. If she won't let them see her naked then I guess I can relax a little but still I'm nervous.

We head down the twisting corridors together still holding hands but we soon reach the room where she's meant to meet her stylist in. Before I let go of her I pull her close into a quick hug and give her a peck on the lips.

"I'll see you soon" I reply with a wink.

Clove's POV

My morning's been boring and filled with pain (even though I'd never show or admit it) luckily I get to spend my lunch with Cato even though our prep teams are eating with us. They seem more relaxed when we are so I hope that means they'll let us be together more often now. After only a short time I'm taken away from Cato again although this time I got to say goodbye I still can't wait to see him again. I thought we were early for lunch anyway. Why'd I have to leave him so quickly?

He seems to feel the same way that I do because as I'm led into my room his grip on my hand tightens slightly as if he doesn't want to let me go. Good. I don't want him to let go, ever. He pulls me into a hug and I feel the urge to reassure him that I'll be safe. When he winks at me my knees go a bit wobbly and I don't want him to see me weak so I close the door keeping my eyes locked with his until it clicks shut.

I sigh and walk across the room not knowing what type of pain I'll have to endure. Guess I'll find out soon. I'm sitting on the bed considering my options of escape when a young man of about 20 walks in through the door. He looks a lot more normal than the rest of these creeps. The only slightly abnormal thing about him is that he's wearing an amulet and a ring on every finger. I can live with that. He approaches me and offers a hand for me to shake

"Hi Clove, I'm Wallace" I take his hand and nod once

"Shall we get started? There's not that much to do but I expect that you'll want to see you're boyfriend before the tribute parade"

"How did you-" he cuts me off

"I was in your room this morning remember?" no. I don't actually.

"Can we just get started?" he nods and leads me over to a door which I hadn't noticed before. He opens it to reveal a sofa and table. We sit down and he starts rembelling on about random things. We talk for a while and get to know each other. He seems nice, Cato wouldn't like him though, he doesn't know a thing about weapons or killing. I mentally shake my head and tut as he explains about his views on the games. I guess I see his point, I mean I do now that I'm going into them with Cato anyway.

I think that 74 years ago when the games started our district decided that we might as well go in fighting and have a chance of actually coming out alive. That's what I've been taught my whole life – how to win the games. Now I'm just going to be known as the girl who committed suicide to save her district partner who just happened to be her boyfriend. That's not exactly the image I was going for.

I realize that I've been daydreaming so I decide that I've had enough of small talk.

"Why don't we get started?" he smiles

"Of course, they'll be dressing Cato now" I blush at the thought and his grin widens.

"Come on" he gestures for me to walk with him so I stand up and follow him threw the door again. He stands me up on the pedestal and dresses me in a golden armor that, if I'm honest, wouldn't be how I'd portray my district. He made it so that when we step into the chariot it will glow against the lights. We'll be formidable yet gracious. No-one can out show us.

He does my makeup so I just look natural but he adds a few specks of glitter to my cheeks. My jewelry is all matching and they complement my costume but somehow I feel a bit uneasy. It doesn't feel like me. That feeling disappears when he announces that I can go and see Cato. _That_ brings a smile to my face.

Cato's POV

I've met Elisa (my stylist) and we've talked for a while. I've always been good with words and have managed to find out quite a lot about her. Not that I care, it's just if a situation comes up in the future where I need information on her this'll come in handy. After a while she brings Clove into the conversation and I quickly ask if I can just get dressed. The thought of seeing her urges me to get this over with quicker. I'm dressed in a stupid costume but I can pull off anything so it works. Somewhere between me being led through the corridors and stepping into the elevator Clove seems to have silently came next to me and her hand has found mine. When I look at her I realize we're wearing the same thing. And I thought _I_ looked good. I smirk at the thought of finally being with someone as hot as me. We step into a huge room and see all the other tributes in person for the first time. Of course we'll survey them properly tomorrow at training to see who'll be good allies I can't help but take a quick look. Clove does the same.

District 1 – Luxurious products for the capital - pink and fluffy really? Hopefully they'll be better fighters then dressers

District 3 – Electronics – wires wrapped round their bodies. Sad.

District 4 – fishing – outfits made out of fishing nets, real original. Not.

District 5 – Power – power plant workers. Ok?

District 6 – transportation – outfits made out of wheels. How idiotic can you get?

District 7 – Lumber – trees, _again_. Pfft.

District 8 – textiles – black clothes with a patched cape. Looks more like a homemade Halloween costume to me.

District 9 – Grain – giant pieces of corn. Unbelievable. That's the best they can do?

District 10 – Livestock – dressed as chicken. Who'd dress up as a chicken when their going into the hunger games? Might as well paint coward' on their heads.

District 11 – Agriculture – overalls. They look very funny with one huge lad and one tiny girl.

District 12 – Coal mining – they're just dressed in black suits. How does that represent their district? I guess their stylists must be new. Just as well, last year the tributes were naked. Not the best sight you want the little kids in the district to see.

I'm guessing they'll all be dead within a few days. We step into our chariot and it instantly starts moving forward. We're out of the huge doors so fast I can't even wish Clove good luck. The blinding lights of the cameras find me again and I'm overcome with a feeling of entertainment. They all look so stupid it's hard to keep the smile from my face. I don't even try because I'm meant to be smiling for the sponsors. Then I hear a loud gasp from the crowd followed by cheers. I don't even realize what's happened until we pull up below the balcony to listen to Snow's speech. District 12 are on fire! I feel like going over there and dumping a bucket of water on their filthy heads just to stop them looking so smug. After the speech we're taken back into the room again and are ambushed by our entire team of mentors, prep teams, stylists and even our escort. Most of them say we were great but Enobaria and Brutus tell us the truth: We've been out-staged. Well not for long.

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**Ok so guys, sorry if not all the costumes were right but I wanted to add a bit of originality to it. Soz if they sucked! I was REALLY tired when i wrote that bit! **

**If you have any ideas or suggestions you want to be added into the story then please tell me! I have one question...should I let them have desert? Do they deserve it? PLEASE TELL ME WHAT YOU THINK!**

**Love it?**

**Hate it? **

**Laughed at the thought of Cato in a chicken suit? (I couldn't get the image out of my head while writing this! lol :P) **

**Please faview coz I love reading them and faviewing's fun! Bye! **


	9. No desert!

Chapter 9 

Clove's POV

I'm so fucking pissed off right now! How dare those low life scum bags from 12 steal _our_ sponsors! Both me and Cato give them death glares. They're gonna pay for this.

As soon as we step foot onto our floor we both sprint towards our rooms and get changed out of these stupid outfits. When I walk into the 'living room' on our floor he's sitting with his giant arm over the back of his chair. I wrap my arms around him and whisper into his ear

"I won't even bother asking if you missed me. I know you did" he smirks and turns round to give me a peck on the lips. We stop and stare when we realize what each other's wearing. Or rather not wearing. I scrambled through my walk in wardrobe to find something casual but all of my clothes were um…revealing. I guess Wallace was getting payback for this morning. I've ended up wearing a short black dress that sparkles when I walk, it's backless and has a _really_ low neck line so it shows a _bit_ more cleavage than I'm comfortable with. He, on the other hand, is only wearing boxers so his abs are on full view. Oh. My. God.

He half smirks half smiles as he wraps his arms around my waist and lifts me easily to his level. When our lips are just centimeters away he whispers

"You should wear that more often"

"Back at ya" he laughs a little and I smile. Then my patience gets the better of me and I smash our lips together. He doesn't seem to mind. All too soon though Enobaria and Wallace start moaning for us to get a room and Cato pulls back.

"Gladly" he replies playfully to their complaints.

"Oh hell no! Didn't we go through this earlier?"

"Yeah and look how that turned out" he seems upset at the memory and Cato gives me a look which I know means he's proud of me.

"Let's just settle down and eat dinner shall we?" Trust Sapphire to break up a potential fight. Damn capital woman.

As we're eating dinner Sapphire tires to conjure up a non existing conversation. It quickly ends when she reveals that we aren't allowed desert. I bet they're feeding 12 up so they don't look so skinny in the interviews. Like they even have a chance of winning! It's pathetic. I have a feeling something's about to kick off. Sadly, I'm stuffed from the massive meal that has been served to us and even though Cato can eat like a king at home he spends all his time training so this has filled him up as well. Guess we'll just have to wait until tomorrow to flip the table. That's something to look forward to…

I excuse myself because I'm quite tired and I just want to get into bed. Cato, however, has other ideas. As soon as the bedroom door is closed he pulls me close to him whispering seductive things in my ear.

"No Cato, I'm too tired to fool around" he pouts but lets go. I give him a weak smile and take off my dress. He, obviously, has nothing to take off so it's just me standing in the middle of the huge room stripping down to my underwear with my boyfriend watching. Eh I don't think so. I quickly jump into the bathroom and start getting ready for bed. When I come out Cato's already passed out underneath the blankets. I curl up next to his body and am still amazed by how we fit together perfectly like a jigsaw. Just as I'm drifting off to sleep I hear something that startles me.

"I really do love you you know"

"I know. You know I love you too right?" he just nods and kisses the top of my head. I fall asleep in the arms of the man I love and everything seems perfect.

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**Ok so this was just a random chapter I wrote when I was bored. Hope you enjoyed it and please review with ideas.**

**If you want a fight to kick off over desert then please tell me!**

**Next chapter will be about the first day of training. I dunno when I'll get to upload next but hopefully it'll be soon. **

**Please faview coz faviewing's auwsome! :) **


	10. training

**Hey people! I'm soooo sorry it's been a while since I've updates but I've had writer's block (ironically just with this story) and have been SUPER busy lately but yeah don't be too mad coz you still got this chapter! I'm in the middle of writing a new Kato (Katniss and Cato) so keep your eyes open (get it? eyes open? ha Hunger games humor) for that. Enjoy and as always please faview!**

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Cato's POV

I spent the night with Clove again last night and although we didn't do anything I still felt happy, complete. We slept in my bedroom last night just because it was the closest and apparently Clove was tired. Turns out I was tired too. I couldn't even keep my eyes open long enough to wait for her to come out of the bathroom. Still I made sure she knows how much I love her, even if it was using words instead of actions. Sapphire marches into my room and is clearly still not happy with us sharing a bed. She looks slightly scared when she sees me lying in bed with my arms protectively wrapped around Clove's sleeping form. I'm a good actor so I pretend I'm still asleep, wonder if she has the nerve to wake us up after yesterday. Serves her right what Clove did to her, she tried to stop me from killing Brutus! Who would do that? Turns out she's braver than I gave her credit for – or maybe she's just stupider.

I'm pulled out of my thoughts as she rips the curtains open.

"Aw! God Sapp why do you always have to wake us up in such awful ways?!" Clove's up then.

"Whatever do you mean?" she looks genuinely confused at Clove's fury. How can anyone be so stupid? You don't anger a career, especially first thing in the morning!

"Yesterday you woke us up by screaming and lecturing us then this morning you open the curtains so we're blinded! A simple get up would have been nice"

Sapphire completely ignores her rant

"Well we've got a big big day today! First we have breakfast…" I block her out and let Clove slump back into my open arms.

"Morning babe" she smile and kisses my neck. I don't think she can even be bothered to reach up those extra centimeters to my face. I'm not complaining.

"Good morning" I smiles and kiss her forehead before resting my head on hers. It's training today so hopefully it'll be just like were at home. You know apart from Clove having to climb down a tree. On second thoughts that image doesn't exactly make me frown.

Clove's POV

My morning didn't exactly get off to a good start. Sapphire practically blinds me with the artificial light of the gleaming capital. Luckily for me Cato was right next to me when I woke up so I could just ignore Sapphire and lie in bed with him. She didn't seem too happy about that…

"Get up! It's training today so you can't act like you don't want to go ok?!" Cato and I both grin and leap out of the massive bed. She jumps back, shocked. What did she think we were gonna do? Wait for the weapons to come to us? Idiot.

9:30am – elevator going to the training floor

We're the first ones here. At first I thought it was because careers were meant to be first but now I'm not so sure. I think everyone just wanted to get rid of us. Fine by me. I get to play with knives. Sapphire shoves us out of the elevator and it whizzes up before we can complain. Cato winks at me and we race towards the huge, metal doors containing what we've been itching to get our hands on for ages. The weapons.

Cato's POV

Sapphire tries and fails to push me out of the elevator but because Clove is so light she's easily thrown out. I walk out towards her and watch as the elevator zooms from view. Everyone was going on about how we've got to show off our skills and stuff like that but we all knew they just wanted some peace away from us. I turn towards Clove and wink. As if on impulse I'm drawn towards the metal doors and race Clove towards them. We burst threw them with loud bangs as the hit the walls on either side of us. Our eyes pop open and our jaws drop. Knives, swords, bows, masses, axes, spears, hammers, ropes… everything and anything you can kill with is in this room. We've been trained al our life for this moment and it has lived up to expectations. Of course we can kill with everything and don't really need to practice but these three days will give us a chance to survey the competition and show off a bit. You know show the pathetic wimps who their killers will be and how good we are at what we do. Slowly the others enter…

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**Does this count as a cliffy? Well I'm really bored tonight so hopefully I'll write and upload the next chapter soon so you don't have to wait. Please faview so I know if you guys like this story or not. Faviews incourage me to write more! Oh BTW I need help: at the interviews do you think Cato and Clove should confess their relationship or do you think I should wait for the arena? I have two ending for this story and that's the decision that makes them so yeah you decide coz I can't! Love you guys! bye! :) x**


	11. meeting the careers

**Aren't you guys lucky? Two updates in one hour! Does this make up for the long wait before? *she asks hopefully* teehee. As always I hope you enjoy!**

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Clove's POV

We stand there gawping at the glorious weapons laid out for us. It's unreal! Just as we've started making out way into the middle of the room the metal doors swing open. District 1 strut in. Huh, the look a lot better in normal clothes. The girl, Glimmer I think her name is, has blonde flowing hair and has obviously had some work done on her body. Do guys actually find that attractive? The boy, Marvel, is about Cato's size but you can tell he's got A LOT less muscles and is no match for him. They nod to us and we nod back then they walk over and stand next to us on their marked area. We all get our district numbers pinned to our backs and rip them off. After about 10 minutes the people who put them on give up and leave us alone. Eventually the room fills and we get to see how easy the games will be. Just as the lead trainer is about to begin 12 barge threw the doors causing every head in the room to turn their way. Attention seekers much?

I don't think anybody listens to the boring speech as we all let our eyes roam to room freely. First, scanning the tributes then the weapons we'll use to kill them. Finally my eyes fix onto the knives. The trainer blows her whistle and I, like the rest of the careers, sprint off towards my favorite weapon.

Cato's POV

I knew that the games would be easy but I didn't think they'd be _this_ easy! I guess the game makers will do something to make it more entertaining but this is still ridiculous Whoever came up with the reaping was an idiot! Why pick kids randomly when you could pick the most challenging opponents? Let's see: there's the other careers, let's hope there good with weapons coz their not that intimidating and there is this REALLY big lad from 11. He's more my build than anyone else's but I'm sure we can take him. Yep, that's about it for competition. When I hear the whistle I sprint off to grab a giant sword, I start swinging it around at the dummies and they slice into pieces immediately. I see that all eyes are on me. Well almost all eyes: Clove isn't watching me because she's picking out some knives, plus she's seen me train before so there's nothing new to her and the boy from 1 is staring at her. Wait, what? He's got a thing for Clove? I don't believe this! Everywhere we go there's always someone who thinks they can have her! The thought infuriates me and I turn towards the dummies again.

Clove's POV

I'm the first in line for the knives. Obviously. I take my time picking out 10 of the most deadly looking blades. Everything goes quiet around me. I turn around to watch Cato smash threw most of the training dummies. He's not normally this angry, I wonder what got him so worked up. Well, I can't let him get all the attention now can I? The target range is too limited for my liking so I take my knives and stand in the middle of the room. The girl in the line behind me looks confused. She's no doubt had no training. I take aim and sever a rope in the corner of the room, the sand bag it was suspending in the air falls to the ground, splits and spills sand everywhere. After a few more throws I've hit every target I think is worthy of my focus. I've ran out of knives and when I walk over to the station everyone looks terrified. Good. I look around and find that all eyes in the room are on me. Except that is for Glimmer, she's staring at Cato... She's gonna die!

Cato's POV

I spend all morning at the swords station. I didn't even get a chance to see the other tribute's skills but I guess I can do that later. We get called into a large room which contains our lunch. All the careers sit at the one large table in the middle of the room showing our superiority and ready made alliance. I find out their names: Glimmer, Marvel, Emily and Jake. Or as I like to call them: sparkles, dead meat, fishy 1 and fishy 2. I take charge and no-one minds. Looks like I'm gonna be the leader. We talk about our skills, favorite weapons and ways to kill. Then when we get called back into the training room I slow my pace down so I get a chance to watch everyone at the different stations.

Sparkles – archery – TERRIBLE! Will need to arrange a little 'accident' for her if this continues, at least she'll get men to sponsor her.

Dead meat – spears – he's ok I guess but nothing compared to me

Fishy 1 – axes – good aim – not very smooth at swings though will die quite quickly

Fishy 2 – masses – quite strong but again nothing compared to me.

My eyes find Clove and I can feel that urge to kiss her take over me again like it did before all this started. I snap myself back to reality. If I show that were together it'll open up my weakness. I can't let that happen, I won't let that happen.


	12. Jealousy!

**Hey guys! So I've just realized that I've been asking you to faview but not everyone knows what faviewing is. Oops. Well anyways faviewing is favoriting and rewieving. Hope that clears up all the misunderstandings! WARNING: this is a little bit random and maybe more T rated than the rest is. Enjoy!**

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Clove's POV

Knives, knives and more knives. Total and utter bliss! The day passes quickly and all too soon I'm standing in the elevator with the other careers. We refused to share the small space with the other tributes so we got put in together even though none of us are going up far. Suddenly I feel someone's large hand on my butt. I notice that I'm standing in between Cato and Marvel but Cato has his arms crossed. Oh dear. My eyes widen as I try and shift away from Marvel's grip towards Cato but he just moves closer. By now I'm practically standing on Cato's feet and he's noticed my closeness, typically though he misunderstands my intentions. Grinning he slides his arm down and subtly rests his hand on my butt as well, only to be greeted my Marvel's hand. Not good, definitely not good. I'm gonna kill my prep team next time I see them – if I had my knives I wouldn't be getting practically felt up by two boys right now! I mean I don't really need my knives to kick someone's ass but they would be helpful considering I can't let on that any of this is happening.

Cato's POV

We're in the elevator – luckily without the maggots infesting our personal space – and Clove starts shifting towards me. Maybe I wasn't the only one who got that urge to be 'together' earlier, I smirk, knowing she can't help herself and snake my hand down to her ass. Normally I'd just wrap her in my arms but there are too many people here who don't know about us. Hang on, there's already a hand on her! Marvel! The little fuckwit has his hands all over _my_ girl! Clove wasn't trying to be all close and stuff, she was trying to get away from him! I shoot him a death glare and he backs off. It'd be too risky having a go at him now because everyone would know I had my hand on Clove's ass but maybe I could pay him a little visit later tonight…

Clove's POV

I feel all my tense muscles relax as Marvel flinches away and I'm left in Cato's safe hands – well safe hand. I know why he didn't to anything, it was the same reason I didn't – it'd be too risky with everyone here. I look up into his face and find that he's wearing an evil grin. This can't be good. He looks down to me and winks. The doors Bing open and Marvel practically sprints out of them. Cato laughs under his breath and I can't help but smirk. Glimmer wipes that smirk off my face though when she turns and winks at Cato. I have to stop myself from lunging at her and Cato finally understands my emotions and gently pulls me further away from her. I'm not sure he's even noticed how much of a hideous slut she is. Well, if he has he's a better actor than I give him credit for. You can tell by her face that she's disappointed. The last thing we see before the doors slide shut is her storming away. Wiggling her butt as she goes. Pfft.

Seconds later the doors open on our floor and, after we nod towards district 4, the doors close behind us and Cato practically drags me in to the bedroom completely ignoring the calls form the lounge. As soon as the door's closed he's got me wrapped up in the most powerful and passionate kiss you can ever imagine. When we pull apart he narrows his eyes

"You're mine" he sneers. Ok, so I'm gonna take a wild guess here and say he's angry about the whole Marvel thing

"Ok even though I find that unbelievably sexist I know why you're saying that so I know I am"

He smiles at me and we kiss again. I pull back before I can get lost in the kiss though.

"We've got to do something about that pair from 1" he looks confused

"What do you mean? Pair? Please tell me Marvel's the only one being handsy. In fact if Sparkles is as well then I'm ok with that"

Ew! I cross my arms over my chest which I always do when I'm either thinking, angry or being cocky. Guess which it is now.

"Sexist again?" is he for real?

"No just gross and demeaning. You really think I'd let anyone but you get there hands on me when we weren't in an elevator filled with people? Especially a slut like her?"

"How do you know if she's a slut?"

"Oh cut the sh*t Cato! She's been all over you all day!"

"She has? I haven't noticed. There's only one girl I notice and that's well…you" Normally I'm good at hiding my emotions but this takes me by surprise. My eyebrows rise involuntarily and my jaw is hanging. I fling myself at him and even though his impulse is to fight I can tell his impulses around me are different now. He catches me with his strong arms wrapped firmly around my waist, quickly lifting me to his level as I crash our lips together. I have my hands on his shoulders but as the kiss deepens they find their way into his hair. Every kiss we have seems to be even more perfect than the last.

Cato's POV

As soon as were out of that cage of fury I pull Clove into the closest room - which just happens to be my bedroom. I just need to get my anger out and I don't want to hurt her so I do the only thing I can think of. I kiss her and show her how possessive I can be. Then later tonight I'll go and hurt dead meat, showing him who's boss. Clove seems to know just how to calm me down and we actually end up having a very 'relationshipy' argument. It's fun. Now that I think about it sparkles was staying very close to me at lunch. Huh maybe Clove's right.

We decide to let me teach dead meat a lesson since Clove doesn't exactly want him all over her almost as much as I don't and when we get into the arena she can kill sparkles any way she wants. I doubt that dead meat will even last long enough for me to kill him. Might as well make the most of tonight then.

Dinner

It's been 2 hours since we left the elevator. Sapphire has been yelling for us to come out of the bedroom for about half an hour but she still hasn't got the courage to turn the door handle afraid of what were doing. Me and Clove have laughed A LOT about that. Finally, I feel my stomach rumbling so I peel myself away from the bottom of the bed and drag Clove towards the door with me.

Sapphire is still knocking on the door when I open it so she ends up 'accidentally' taking a swing at Clove. Big mistake. Within a blink of an eye she's pressed up against a wall with her arm twisted behind her back. Clove's so sexy when she fights! She sighs and releases her before running into the 'kitchen' for dinner. I can tell this would have ended a lot differently had she actually been hit.

I stroll in after her making sure Sapphire gets a full on glare. Maybe now she'll stop banging on our door so much. Fat chance. I sit down next to Clove and drape my arm over her shoulder. Brutus and Enobaria are quizzing her on today's training. By the time we've finished our detailed account of training we've finished our meals and have just been told about no getting dessert…again! Then they raise the tricky question 'so why were you two in such a rush to get into the bedroom? I'd have thought you'd be in great moods' I can't take it! I have to get my anger out – and soon. Clove seems to feel the same way as she quickly stands up and throws a bread knife at the wall (it sticks – of course) then she screams and slams down on the table. I grin and stand up too kicking my chair over in the process. Nobody can stop us when were like this so everyone in the room has just taken cover. I place my hands under the cold, metal table and shove it over causing all the food to be spilled all over the expensive red carpet. I must look like a very strong child throwing a tantrum but I don't care.

I turn to Clove breathing heavily.

"You ready?" she asks almost challengingly

"Born ready" I grin and we race towards the door

"Where do you two think your going" looks like Brutus has finally grown a pair. Or not.

"Promised we'd pay 1 a little visit" I give Clove a side ways glance and then were off again.

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**So, this was random. I'm gonna start off the next chapter with some randomness too but it'll grow into a proper chapter. Do you guys like me going off on random chapters like this one or would you prefer me to stick to the story line? Please faview and tell me what you think! Bye! :) x**


	13. the randomness continues - a fun night

**AN: so, I know I said this would turn into a proper chapter instead of just leading on to the random chapter but I changed my mind. WARNING: RANDMONESS! Anyways since I've got LOADS to do at the minute I've decided that I might only be able to upload once a week. Sometimes more but most of the time it will be once a week. Sorry! Enjoy this chapter and please faview!**

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**Clove's POV**

We reach the elevator. I slam my fist onto the button and we tap our feet impatiently for the doors to slide open. When they finally do we collapse inside, playfully wrestling to get to the button for the 1st floor. He wins. Just because he managed to beat a 15 year old girl in a wrestling match even though he must have at least 100kg on me _and_ I let him win he thinks it's suitable to celebrate. I think he's either gone too heavy on the wine or he's just really excited about tonight, He grins and shouts some unintelligent things before picking me up and kissing me roughly. Of course I kiss back but when the voice announces 'doors opening' in that annoying mechanical voice (strangely enough it has a capital accent) I pull back and straighten my shirt. We creak down the corridor in silence. Nobody could ever sneak up on us but nobody would be safe if we ever decided to go for them.

We take a quick look round the floor and it looks like the only one around is Jacob, their escort, but he's flat out on the sofa with his mouth wide open. I'm tempted to draw on him or at least blow a whistle in his ear but Cato doesn't even seem to care that he's there. He's just looking for Marvel's room. Turns out that their floor is exactly like ours - although they have no right to be treated as our equals - so finding his room isn't hard. I stand watch outside because Cato said it could get loud and we'll need to make a quick exit if someone hears. I think he just doesn't want me to see him beat the crap out of Marvel.

I hear a loud bang and am about to open the door when the handle slowly turns. Then it stops and there are a few more yelps, bangs and crashes from inside the bedroom. If it wasn't Cato and Marvel in there I'd have thought they were doing something completely different. Then the door swings open. What if Marvel is stringer than he looks? What if he's managed to beat Cato. He couldn't do that, could he?

... ... ...

Cato steps out of the door and the only thing that gives away the fact that he's just had a fight is the fresh blood splattered on his shirt. I catch a glimpse of Marvel. He's lying in a ball on the floor. Surves him right.

Then I hear a high pitched screech and a flash of Blonde. Oh great, whoever blondey is they better not snitch on us. We start walking in the direction of the screech and just as we're about to turn the corner there's the sound of high heels clicking on the marble floor. Blondey comes into sight. Glimmer. This is really going to be a fun night then.

"Hi Cato, what are you going here?" she asks in a flurty voice while twisting her hair around with her fingers. Oh I'm going to enjoy ripping it from her skull. I crack my knuckles.

"_We_ were just coming to see Marvel" so now Cato sees how much of a slut she is. Glimmer shoots me a dirty look and that's all I need to jump. She's on the floor in an instant. I slip my newly recovered hidden knife and begin to draw shapes with it over her arms lightly making her afraid.

"What a pretty face, shame really with that body" yeah did I mention fighting with knives isn't always my favorite way to hurt people? Especially people like her. There almost _too_ easy to crack. She starts yelling pathetic insults my way and when I punch her across her face making her shut up she chooses a different approach. Cato. Well this should be good.

"CATO! CATO HELP!"

"Sorry, I promised Clove she could have a bit of fun tonight" he crosses his arms and leans causally against the wall enjoying the show

"Just make sure you don't mess her up too badly, the cameras won't be happy"

"They wont be happy with her anyway" he laughs and I turn back to Glimmer deciding what to do next. I go for her face. After a while of punching and scratching her she gives up on trying to claw at me so I grab a knife…

Sliding it up her body to her neck I stop. Digging it in a little so she winces. There's a bead of blood on the blade and I wipe it on her revealing dress. Then I move to her face. I don't want it to be too obvious that I was the one who did this to her but I want it to be visible that she's had a fight so I give her a small but deep gash on her check and one last punch. Just before her eyes flutter shut I decide to say one last thing to get to her:

"You're just a fat blonde whore aren't you? You'll never survive the games"

I climb off her with a giant smile plastered to my face. Then I turn to Cato and we walk triumphantly back to the elevator. Brutus and Enobaria meet us as we strut out of it on our floor. Wiping the blood off our faces.

"So? What happened?" they're just like little kids when it comes to fights. Kinda like us actually. We tell them the gory version and they both grin. Enobaria even shows off her famous fangs.

**Cato's POV**

I tell Clove to guard the door while I kick Marvel's ass. Then I silently go into his room…

He's lying flat out on his bed on top of the silk covers. I easily pick him up and throw him forcefully on to the floor to wake him up. His eyes shoot open and he darts to the other side of the room clutching his back. I grin my evil grin and creep towards him only making him aware that I'm there when I grab his neck with my fist. He yelps and I smash him into the cupboard trying to keep him quiet. There's a dent in t now so I move over to the mirror the force of his body against it causes it to smash into a million tiny pieces around us. I throw him to the floor again and make my way towards the door.

Just as I'm turning the handle I feel someone's weight being rammed into me and I spin round forcefully yanking his body away from mine and dragging him into the bathroom by his hair. I run the tap until the sink is filled with water (which doesn't take long considering where we are) then as he screams for mercy I dunk his head under. He thrashes around but I keep him steady until he stops. I pull him back up and he gasps for breath. Just as he's taking his first lungful of air I push him back under. I continue this until he doesn't even thrash and I know he can't take any more without coming up as a corpse. I throw him onto the floor by his bed and watch as he curls up into a ball of blood, glass and water.

"Stay away from Clove" then I walk out.

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**AN: Hope you enjoyed this chapter! Please faview coz i LOVE reading/seeing them! Love you guys! :) x**


	14. Breakfast in bed

**AN: Ok so I know I said I'd update like ages ago but turns out I was busier than I expected. Anyways it's up now. BTW since a few people have reviewed about the random chapters I write I've made this one a kinda random one but it does sorta link into the story...I think. As always enjoy and please faview! :D **

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Chapter 14

Clove's POV

Last night me and Cato slept like logs. It has been AGES since I've been able to bring someone so close to tears! It's such a rush! I wake up late – finally being able to get a lock on the door so nobody disturbs us – and my fingers stretch out seeking Cato's warmth that always makes me feel safe and secure. The bed is cold. I shoot up and scan the room. Nothing. My heart starts racing and I climb out of bed.

Cato's POV

About 5 minutes earlier

Last night was amazing! Seeing Clove let her vicious side take over reminded me exactly who she is – the woman I love. She doesn't do sweet and innocent but she can kill in a heart beat. My kind of girl. I slowly pry my eyes open and take in the sight of Clove wrapped up in my arms, her hair spread out around her like a shining cape of really is beautiful. I decide to surprise her with breakfast in bed because if I can't live long enough to do these kinds of things for her then I better squish them all into the few days (hopefully weeks depending on how long the games last) I have left. This morning started off so anti-depressing as well. Guess that's what the hunger games do to you. I let out a sigh looking at my gorgeous Clove as I know she will be safe and sound even if it costs my life. Yeah so even though I'm getting really depressed now I decide I should still make her breakfast in bed. Creeping out of the room without her waking up isn't easy but as always I do what I set out to and get to the door. Then I'm faced with a new challenge. The lock. If I undo it the latch will click, making a noise that will surely wake her up. Then it hits me. I tiptoe into the bathroom and grab a towel. Covering the lock I slowly turn the knob. It does still click but much quieter and she doesn't even stir.

I close the door behind me and make my way towards the kitchen. Everyone is already there.

"It moves!" Brutus really isn't a morning person. Too bad I am really otherwise he'd become one – and fast unless he wanted to die tomorrow.

"Shut up Brutus" I call over an anvox and he gives me a tray, two knives, forks and plates for me to bring into the bedroom. Then I start gathering the food.

Meanwhile in Clove and Cato's room

Clove starts looking high and low around the room calling out his name:

"Cato! Cato! This really isn't funny you know! Come on! I'm hungry lets just go and get some breakfast!" she crawls under the bed, skids on the bathroom tiles almost falling into the bath and even stalks the fan unknowingly thinking the noise it made was him. Suddenly it dawns on her that the lock is un-done.

Clove's POV

Seriously?! WTF? That man is making me into an idiot! I walk silently out of the door, down the hall and lean by the kitchen doorway intending to give Cato a piece of my mind, then I see what's going on.

"What exactly are you doing?" Thankfully Enobaria has asked the question I'm dying to.

"Clove looked so peaceful this morning and last night was so perfect I thought it'd be nice if I made her breakfast in bed" aw he's so considerate! I make a snap decision: to stay or to not to stay that is the question. **  
**

I chose to go back to the bedroom so he can feel all sweet and thoughtful and I can get breakfast when I'm not freezing cold – guess in my search for 'the missing Cato' I didn't actually realize that I'm practically naked. Stupid capital clothes. I make my way back into the room and have barely closed my eyes when I hear the click of the lock.

Cato's POV

I turn the door handle with my elbow as I steadily hold the tray out to the side making sure not to spill the drinks. As I see Clove looking like sleeping beauty lying in bed a smile spreads across my face. I place the tray down on the bed-side table and sit by her side. Instead of waking her up in the awful ways Sapphire does, I try a new method. Being aware of how close I am to the tray I bend down and lightly kiss her neck, moving my way up to her mouth. Her lips curve into a smile against mine and I know she's awake. Before I can get too carried away I pull back:

"Good morning beautiful, I made us some breakfast"

"Morning handsome, sure does smell good. I never knew you could cook"

"Well I'm a guy with many talents" I say smugly loving the moment

"Apparently" she replies. I hope she's impressed.

We talk for a bit while we eat and as we simultaneously finish she says

"Well that was a very delicious surprise. You should cook me breakfast in bed more often"

"Clove, I saw you by the kitchen before"

"I have no idea what you're talking about" she says with a smile playing on her lips.

"Thank you" I breath against her mouth. I know she was fuming when she woke up alone – to be honest I'd be too if I couldn't find her – but she came back so I could feel like the good boyfriend I feel like now. I wish I could just freeze this moment and live in it forever. No games, no getting killed. Just me and Clove - Together.

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**AN: So? Was it worth the stupidly long wait? I felt really guilty for not updating. I'm already writing the next chapter so hopefully that one will be up quicker than this one was. Please please please faview coz I love knowing that people are actually reading my stories and not just hating them! Hope you enjoyed!**

**Oh BTW there were a few _subtle_ things in there that I'd like to know if your subconscious mind picked up on: **

**1) The title of the AMAZING song 'safe and sound' (By Taylor Swift - written especially for the hunger games) was in there. **

**2) The famous quotation from Mr. William Shakespear himself 'to be or not to be - that is the question' was tweaked a little and added as well.**

**3) Finally, the first few lines from the hunger games 'when I wake up the other side of the bed is cold, my fingers stretch out seeking Prim's warmth' was changed around a little bit (and obviously I changed Prim to Cato) and added in too. **

**Tell me if you picked up on those coz I'm a TOTAL nerd and would actually find it quite interesting knowing if that technique they use on T.V works in writing as well. I know I'm sad but who cares? **

**Love you guys! :D x**


	15. Training scores

**AN: See? Told you it'd be uploaded quicker than the last one! I hope you like it coz I've literally been writing all night to finish it (it's about 1:30am now) I really liked writing this chapter coz I got to use some of my useless knowledge of weapons and I hope you like reading it. Enjoy and as always please faview!**

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Clove's POV

Private Sessions

Today is the private sessions in front of the game makers. The last two days of training have been quite amusing since Glimmer is so terrified of what I'll do to her she won't even look at Cato and I still catch Marvel gawking at me from time to time but as soon as Cato comes on the scene he's out of the door like a bolt of lightning has just hit him in the butt. Me and Cato have became the leaders of the careers and even though he has the last say on what goes on I'm actually glad because unlike most of the other fools here I don't care about being the leader – I just care about the games and making sure Cato comes out alive. Nothing much happened other than that.

All of the other tributes are sitting in a line by the giant doors but the careers – being the hard core rebels we are – have ditched the stupid regulations and are talking around the corner so we don't have to be discussed because they're sharing our personal space. That wouldn't exactly be good considering what we're about to do now would it?

As we talk there seems to be some sort of tension between us. I decide that it's not good so I call them up on it.

"What's going on?" they give me some really confused faces

"What do you mean?" I roll my eyes at their stupidity. I re-word my question:

"We're about to do the private sessions at the hunger games people! This is suppost to be a good time but the way you're all acting it's like you don't even want to be here!"

"What? Of course we want to be here! This is what we've prepared for all our lives! The thing is …well… compared to your two's skills we're going to seem inadicute in the game makers eyes because our skills need to be shown in the arena rather than here" I was not expecting _that._

"Well maybe you should have leant some better skills then instead of wasting your time with knots" trust Cato to be insulting people at a time like this. I mean sure, it's what I was thinking too but if they get low scores then the career pack will be marked as weak for the year and we'll all be disgraced back home. If things go badly in there it affects badly on us as well. I can't let that happen.

"Right, this is what you have to do: when you go in there play to your individual strengths to make sure they don't forget you. Marvel, go outside of the range for spears for once and I don't know throw a heavy ball about or something, Glimmer, STAY. AWAY. FROM. THE. ARCHARY. Do not touch any weapons, just make sure you get the boys trailing after you – if you can manage that, Emily you go to the axes and maybe make a knot, show how strong it is then cut through it? Jake you just try not to hit yourself with the mase and play with some knots like Emily" they nod in approval and even though I insulted most of them they actually seem a little more confident now.

"Right guys we'd better be lining up, don't want to miss it now do we?" that earns a few laughs, everyone follows Cato's instruction and heads round the corner. Just as I'm about to go as well he pulls me back and smashes his lips against mine. When we pull apart he rests his forehead against mine and whispers

"Good luck baby. Impress them" I smile and whisper back

"I know I will and I know you will too"

We kiss again and for a few seconds I forget where we are and what's awaiting us all I remember is that I'm kissing Cato then my perfect world comes shattering down with the sound of one voice:

"Oh hoy! What's going on? Ah now I know why you were so angry before with me having a bit of fun! I thought she might have been your training partner or something but not your girlfriend!"

Marvel.

Cato's POV

The careers – apart from me and Clove - seem a little bit on edge. Just as I'm about to confront them about it Clove does. Fishy 1 explains and I can't help but make a joke. I mean seriously? Who ever heard of a career being afraid that they're not good enough for the hunger games? Clove goes into full on stratricig mode and impresses everyone – even me (and that's saying something considering who my mum is) once everyone's content about the plans I order them to go into the weakling infested hallway. They don't even hesitate to oblige now, not like when I first started giving orders although Marvel did what I said instantly.

I stop Clove from following the rest and kiss her with as much force as I can muster without actually hurting her. I make sure she knows I'm rooting for her then we kiss again. This time being interrupted.

"Oh hoy! What's going on? Ah now I know why you were so angry before with me having a bit of fun! I thought she might have been your training partner or something but not your girlfriend!" I let go of Clove and grab Marvel's weak shoulders pinning him to the wall

"Marvel. You son of a bitch! I swear if you do anything I will personally see that you death is slow and very very painful! You understand?" he nods

"I didn't see anything I swear! I'll stay away from Clove I promise!" just then his name is announced and I shove him around the corner. A smirk playing on my lips knowing Clove saw who was the boss out of us two. Like I needed more reassurance that she'd always pick me over him. I turn to her.

"Don't worry, he won't say or do anything. Good luck" I give her a peck on the lips, a quick hug and jog round to my seat.

The private sessions

"Cato Jones!" an annoying capital accent rings through out the hallway. I stand up practically oblivious to the fact that Marvel and Glimmer have both gone and look down towards Clove. She knows what I mean even if I don't say it so she gives me a warm smile and I look down the line of people I'm going to kill in a few days. Then I calmly walk through the doors.

I stand in the center of the training room making sure all eyes are fixed on me before I start.

"Cato Jones, District two" the nod at me and I start:

I run towards the sword section and annihilate 50 dummies in record time, then I go over to the spears splitting several targets around the room, I go to the masses and swing it ferociously around my head before letting it loose on a dummy who then collapses in a firework display of wooden spelks finally, I make my way to the axes and demolish the last of the targets making sure I've used every weapon the careers have to offer except knives. This will mean Clove stands out the most. I take a glance around the room wondering if I should take a shot with the archery station but as I walk up to it Glimmer's intoxicating perfume consumes me and I decide to go for a Kpinga which is an ancient type of bladed weapon that's so rare nowadays I just can't resist the urge to have it in my hands in the arena. I have to show the game makers that this should defiantly be in the arena. Not very many people can use one so it's only be useful to me and Clove (and possibly the other careers but it's unlikely) my favorite weapon is of course the sword and I'm sure that'll be in there for me to use but this is just too good an opportunity to miss!

I pick it up and grin knowing that none of the people watching me now know how to use this magnificent instrument of war. I decide to educate them:

"This is called a Kpinga, also known by its nickname the Hunga Munga, it has three blades which drastically increase the chances of impaling a victim on contact. The first blade symbolizes its holders power, the other two blades are a lined to make sure that if used correctly the user will be practically unbeatable" I throw it towards the row of sand bags and as it cuts through them it slices them in two. Every last one. A smile seeps across my face knowing they're impressed.

"Mr. Jones, as much as we'd like for you to stay and entertain us some more with your impressive knowledge and use of the weapons you time is, regrettably up, you may leave" he gestures towards the door and I nod

"Thank you for you time" then I leave finding it hard to resist the urge to look behind me at the wreck of a room I have left - knowing it was me who did that. I hope Clove does as well as I have…

Clove's POV

"Clove Jackson" I stand up and give district 4 a nod then I smirk and make my way through the doors. Instantly I see the damage Cato has done. They've obviously cleaned up but since it's been about 30 minutes since he entered, I'm guessing it was a pretty big mess. There is still splinters of wood scattered around the room from targets and dummies, is that sand? Glass, and that looks surprisingly like rust. Huh. I'll be sure to get a detailed account of what happened later. For now though…

"Clove Jackson, District two" they nod and I sprint off towards the knives.

Now, this might come as a bit of a shock but I'm actually quite old fashioned in my choice of knives that's why when I'm given the choice between the modern technology created ones that take about 10 minutes to even get the blade out or the good old fashioned sharp and pointy knife that is essential to life and to many people's deaths I choose the latter of the two. Here in the capital there is the biggest range of traditional knives I've ever seen! Naturally there aren't that many left in existence that won't snap when they come in contact with human flesh but there is still some… There's the arit, the karambit, kujang, mandau, pichangatti, sickle, wedond and surprisingly a normal kitchen knife. They're all here and more! I pick up as many as I can hold and even slip some into my belt.

Then I begin.

I swerve and run around the room spiking anything and everything in my way (except for the game makers of course that'd get me killed before the games even start) then I take out one of my hidden knives and hit the light causing a shower of sparks to rain down onto me. I don't even flinch and catch my knife as it returns to me. The game makers are nodding in approvement I hope they think I'm going to give them a nice, bloody show because that's exactly what I'm going to do. My time soon comes to an end though and I'm sent out of the room with smiles all round.

I jump into the elevator and am practically tackled to the ground by an excited Cato. I giggle and hammer his back as he picks me up twirling me round and round until I'm dizzy. When he finally puts me down we both have to cling onto each other to stay upright and both have huge smiles on our flushed faces. Know-one could have beaten our scores. We're going to be the stars of the show no matter how good district 12's stylists are – we're better than they could ever be.

Cato's POV

Later that night

We're watching the scores and I'm quite content just lying on the sofa with Clove in my arms, waiting to see how highly we've scored. Our detailed accounts of our time in the private sessions have kept us entertained all afternoon re-telling them at different angles and describing exactly what happened. I'm proud of Clove and I think she's proud of me.

The screen flashes to life and Ceaser Flickerman's voice fills the room.

"Hello! And welcome to the reading of the tribute's training scores!" he tells a few stupid jokes and finally gets into the thing we've been anticipating all day. The results.

"District 1, Marvel…9

District 1, Glimmer…8

District 2, Cato…" This is it. We all tense up and lean towards the TV screen"…10" 10! That's amazing! I've earned myself a long snog from Clove and congratulations all round. Then everything falls silent for Clove's score

"District 2's Clove…"come on, come on, please be high, please be high! "…10!" wow! We both got 10s! That's awesome!

"Did you really think I'd let you get all the glory?" Clove jokes before giving me a very passionate kiss until we get complaints from the adults. We're all cheering and yes, kissing again in our case, Sapphire's opening the champagne and everything is just a blur of excitement until one tiny thing sets the entire night off the high. District 12's scores.

"District 12's Peeta…8" nothing to worry about. But then. She comes and has to ruin it all doesn't she?

"District 12's Katniss…..11!"

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**AN: Well? What did you guys think? I know I've been prelonging this story a bit and hopefully I'll be writing some arena chapters soon but I just wanted to show some of their relationship before the arena. Next chapter probably won't be as quick as this one was since I've got to be up in about 5 hours and i need sleep but hopefully it won't be as long a wait as the last one was! Love you guys! :D x**


	16. Interview prep can get competitive

**AN: Hey people! I'm sooo sorry it's been ages since I updated but I have been SUPER ill (Like seriously ill) anyway hope you enjoy this chapter and please tell me what you think! :D**

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Chapter 16

Clove's POV

Last night went by in a blur of fury, we debated whether or not we should pay her a visit but we figured if the peace keepers found out that there was another attack they'd put two and two together and come for us. It's better if we just kill her as painfully as possible in the arena. We get to bed fuming over her stupid score and wondering exactly how she got it around midnight.

…

I couldn't sleep very much last night so at around 3am when Cato was snoring his head off I crept out of the room and went down to the training room. I moved to flick the switch on but realize that the place was already lit up, I looked around to see who it could have been and finally my eyes fixed on someone's approaching figure…Marvel. Great!

"Hey baby, you upset that fire bitch beat you in training?" I just rolled my eyes knowing he was just trying to provoke me and threw a knife so it lodged itself in his left hand before walking away listening to the sound of his pathetic screams. When I crawled back into bed Cato slinked his arms protectively around my waist in his sleep and I smiled to myself knowing even though I can protect myself he'll always look after me. Well he will until I die next week anyway. I gently shake him awake and we talk about what we're going to do in the games, of course this turns into a bit of an argument because neither of us want the other person to die but one of us is. I'm determined for it to be me and he's determined for it to be him. It takes us about 5 hours to get to this conclusion:

"Lets just wait and see what happens" yep, there was absolutely no point in ma waking him up, although at least we know the plan for the other tributes deaths.

My tummy growls and soon after so does his.

We reluctantly roll out of bed in search of food. About five minutes later we're cornered by our mentors. Today is the day they and Sapphire have to prepare us for the dangerous world of the interviews. Wow I'm sooo scared…not.

Actually I probably should be. Since we're training together we spend the morning under Brutus and Enorbria's careful watch as we hear them drabble on about the endless list of tactics we could choose to do. Cato obviously chooses the first one: brutal killing machine, he should be quite good at that. I'm choosing a more complex approach: the assassin who can kill you in a second but can also get you groveling for more. It doesn't take very long for us to perfect them so we just talk about special skills, what we are and are not allowed to reveal in the interviews and most importantly how we are going to manage our relationship in front of the cameras. There is no place for love in the hunger games, well we must make it look that way anyway, because ironically it's the games which have brought us together.

We stop for an early lunch before following a bored Sapphire into the bedroom. She sits us on the bed and directs us on what she's going to teach us. Like she could actually teach us anything. The things on her list are some of the most ridiculous things I have ever heard of: I have sit as a lady, Cato has to act like a gentleman,I need to walk in high heels (the one pair I own is nothing like the 8 inch heels she has in mind), how to walk in a ankle length dress without tripping and most importantly how to answer questions politely blah blah blah. God she's irritating.

She starts with Cato. He grumbles unpleasant to her until she mentions the one thing I know will bug him:

"This is a competition. If you don't do well tomorrow then you'll not get sponsors and you will loose. I tell you what, how about you both do what I say this afternoon and I'll decide who out of you two wins. This might be a great chance for a little competitiveness...unless your scared you'll loose to Clove" we exchange a few looks before grinning and agreeing.

He sits up straight, shoulders back and a huge smile playing on his lips as he politely answers the questions she throws at him. When he finishes she shows him how to enter and exit correctly which to be honest is just a posh way of walking. When he's done Sapphire complements him on his attitude and tells me I have a lot to do if I want to beat him, I guess in a way she's treating us like kids but this is gonna help tomorrow and there's absolutely no way I'm letting him win so I put up with her constant chatting. Here we go:

She gets me into a floor length purple dress and matching spike high heels. Not the best start. After about ten minutes of listening to Cato laugh his head off before jumping off the bed to catch me as I trip over **yet again** I've just about got the hang of walking. Turns out it's harder than it looks, Cato was a natural. Finally I'm allowed to sit down because my feet are aching and my hands hurt from all the times I've put them out to stop me smacking off the floor. Thankfully Sapphire stopped laughing after receiving a death glare and she has actually stared helping me with the interview questions. FINALLY! I answer every one with a smile on my face, my hands neatly folded on my lap resisting the urge to cross my legs which would be seen as 'unladylike' I even get Sapphire to both laugh and cry in 1 minute now that's gotta win this competition for me right?

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**AN: so...? Who won the competition? YOU DECIDE! Just leave your answer in a review or PM me. How many reviews/PM I get will determine how long it'll take me to upload the next chapter (both because they encourage me to write and I kinda need to know who you want to win) Hope you enjoyed this chapter, please please please faview and I'll try my absolute best to update soon - if you review. teehee. BYE!**


	17. interviews

**AN: Hey guys! I am sooooo happy to be back! YAY! So, yeah I tried to contact everyone I could but coz of the privacy policy I couldn't get in touch with everyone but here's why I haven't been able to update in sooo long!: my laptop broke and all my chapters were on there (including the interviews) and I really liked the chapter I wrote but I had done it months ago so I couldn't remember how it went. I have been trying for AGES to recover the files but it turns out that I can't without paying a HORRIBLE amount! So I decided to sit down and wrote this from what I could recall. Just a quick warning I have been up since 3am, done LOADS of stuff today (including a run in the freezing cold! not my best dieting idea) and haven't had the chance to get to sleep since so I apologize if you think it's just the rubbish ramblings of a sleep deprived teenager!**

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The interviews

Cato's POV

Saphire sat us both down on the bed and announced the results. Clove had won. I wasn't actually very upset because although I'm unbelievably competitive the interviews are a chance to get sponsors and I want to get sponsors for Clove so what's the point of getting all wound up on something I know will go fine because we're doing it together? Still, I can't let my expectations crumble now can I? Clove does her 'I won' dance taking the micky of me as much as possible. Savering the moment. I run up to her, grab her round the waist and slam her up against the wall, not hard enough to hurt her but hard enough to show her how strong I am.

"We all know I won" I smirk and she just rolls her eyes

" Oh please, you couldn't even beat a stuffed bear if you were in a competition against it!" ouch that stung – not!

I just chuckle and say I won again then just as she opens her mouth the protest I kiss her with as much passion and force without actually bruising her beautiful face.

The next morning

I wake up completely unaware of what went on last night. From the looks of things it was pretty fun. I knew I should have rejected that vodka! Maybe if I had I would know what went on. Clove sturs beside me and I smile as she cuddles further into my bare chest. She doesn't say it but I know she loves it when I walk around topless – that's actually the reason I do. Today's the last day of freedom we get together and even this is going to be taken away from us – all day will be spent working on us for the interviews then we have to sit through 22 other boring people's useless speeches before we can come back to the training center. If it wasn't for Clove, if she wasn't so cute, so sassy, so smart, so..so so much herself I would love this day. Before I saw Clove that day in the training center I would have been repulsed by the idea of being in love during the hunger games. Sure, I've thought about settling down once I'd returned victor but I mean never had it once crossed my mind that I might find the one when we were destined to kill each other! God, how many times have I thought this now? I shake the thought away and plant a kiss on Clove's head before going back to sleep.

With the prep team

They shave and wash, spray and scrub, throw power and gel at me until I look as handsome as ever. I don't see why they had to do all that stuff I mean everyone knows I'm awesome anyway so why bother making me even better? That's just unfair to everyone else. Is my ego bigger than usual this morning? Hmm never mind. The morning blends into the afternoon and finally Elisa comes into the room to get me into my suit for tonight. It's a blue/silver jacket with a plain black shirt and trousers. When I try them on I can see that they've been made to show off my muscles. There's no way those idiots from 12 will be able to beat me and Clove! Aw why did i have to think about Clove? Now I'm worried about Wallace seeing her! DAMN IT!

Some food gets delivered to the room and we sit on the sofa eating. Turns out Elisa isn't that bad in a capital sort of way. After a while she looks at her watch and tells me that we should get going. A grin crosses my face and an all knowing look crosses hers. I just tell her to shut up.

In a matter of seconds we're standing in the elevator with my mentors then I see Clove turn the corner and start walking towards us. 1 word. WOW! In fact no that doesn't even begin to describe how gorgeous she looks! She's wearing a long orange dress that goes down to the floor with her hair pinned up in a messy bun just like she had it the day I fell for her. I lean down and whisper in her ear: "and I thought I looked good!" she smiles and rewards me with a kiss. Then Brutus is warning us. "Remember! No-one can know about you two alright. Tonight Ceaser will ask about relationships but you can't let on! Got it?" we nod and step out of the elevator.

They've changed the protocol this year so now we line up backstage before the interviews but have to sit at the back of the stage once we've done ours. How ridiculous is that! That means we have to look interested incase the cameras land on us. It's really dark back here so we can't really see what everyone is wearing until they get out onto the stage but you can get a more or less accurate judgement of the competition. I spot Clove looking up at me and give her a wink for reassurance and she returns it instantly.

Glimmer's up first so as she walks up to the bottom of the steps she makes sure to wiggle her hips trying to get attention but it doesn't work. She gives me a flick of her hair before pouncing un onto stage in BIG hight heels in a gold dress which reveals everything on her. Too easy to guess her angle.

Marvel goes next wearing an all blue suit looking like he's a fashion disaster even when he was in the 1950's. After listening (and yawning) to those excruciating interviews Clove's up. At least the crowd will finally get something interesting to listen to.

Clove's interview

Ceaser: Welcome to the stage our female tribute from district 2 Clove Jackson!

Clove struts onto stage hooking the audience straight away. She sits down next to Ceaser and the interview begins.

Ceaser: You're looking very lovely tonight Clove

Clove: Thank you Ceaser you're looking very…blue? (Ceaser and the audience both laugh)

Ceaser: So what do you think about the other contestants this year?

Clove: meh, nothing I can't handle

Ceaser: ohh you're sounding confident and why shouldn't you be with that impressive score of 10 in the private sessions! Tell me what do you think of district 12's Katniss getting the highest score?

Clove: I'm not bothered. There's still plenty more to come from me yet and her 11 won't help her in the arena.

Ceaser: hmm, so what about the reaping? How did you feel?

Clove: bored (she relies simply)

Ceaser: I must say you looked as if you were about to fall asleep! Were you celebrating the night before about the reaping?

Clove: I always do but this year I spent the night in

Ceaser: oh (leaning forward in his chair) and what made you do that

Clove: I got a very important visiter (she replies as if it was obvious)

Ceaser: Are we talking about a boy?

The audience are getting really excited now at the prospect of her having a boyfriend. Clove's eyes dart quickly to Cato but they flash back so fast no-one noticed. She starts racking her brain for an excuse but the buzzer goes off and she just says:

Clove: Guess we'll just have to talk about it in the victor's interview

Ceaser: (laughs a little) I'm looking forward to it. (kisses her hand) Clove Jackson District 2!

And with that Clove gave one last wave to the adoring crowd and walked to her seat.

Backstage

Cato was feeling his anger bubble up inside him like when he saw that boy flirting with Clove outside the training center. Every single boy in the audience (and actually a few women as well) are drooling over her. He was just about to jump on stage and kiss her when the buzzer went off and he missed his chance. Now it was his turn for an interview.

As Ceaser introduced him he turned and nodded to the remaining careers because that was kind of their way of communicating now and he cooly walked up the steps

Cato's interview

Ceaser: Please welcome to the stage our male tribute from district 2 Cato Jones!

Cato walks onto the stage earning a few yells from the girls in the audience. He gives them a wave and a wink before he sits down.

Ceaser: So, Cato we've just seen Clove from your district and I think we all remember you asking to volunteer next year at the reaping because you saw that she was your opponent. Talk us through that.

Cato: Well, I think we can all see that she's one tough cookie and won't go down without a fight but we trained together back in district 2 and we always have a bit of banter like that going on so really it was just to ease up a bit I mean I've been wanting to become a victor all my life so I don't want this experience to be _too_ easy but it looks like your going to have trouble keeping everyone watching if we don't have a bit of fun.

This makes the crowd erupt in applause and yells

Ceaser: Sounds like you can't wait

Cato: I'm strong, I'm vicious I'm raring to go

Ceaser: well said! Now, is there a special girl back home for you?

Cato plays the next few minutes in his mind conjuring up all the different scenarios that could happen if he reveales his secret but then he decides to let Clove decide whether or not to come forward

Cato: there is a _very_ special girl but I don't think we should be talking about it

Ceaser: and why ever not?

Cato: well it's for her sake isn't it? If we sit here now and talk about our relationship then the reporters would never leave her alone can you imagine it? The girlfriend of a future victor? She wouldn't get any peace!

Ceaser: you could have denied having a girlfriend

Cato: ah but then I'd never hear the end of it! As soon as I got home I'd get an earful!

By this point the crowd is going crazy! Some are even trying to get up onto the stage!

Ceaser: surely not! Theoretically if you had denied it then when you returned home as the victor she'd be nothing but proud of you, right?

Cato: well, I'm sure she'd be proud incredibly proud in fact but she'd be upset as well.

Ceaser: hmmm, I understand. We'd better move on (turns to the audience) sorry fokes! So, you scored an amazing 10 in the private sessions can you tell us how you achieved that?

Cato: actually I was trying to get a low score. Oops? Guess I just couldn't resist all those weapons but don't worry you'll have a good show once I'm in the arena. I'll make sure of it.

With that the buzzer sounds and he walks to his seat next to Clove

"what are you playing at?" she hisses

"I was trying to let you decide whether or not to reveal our relationship"

"Oh, well I still won the interview battles. I bet nobody even bothered to listen to you"

"yeah yeah whatever"

With that they turned their attention back to the interviews and were completely submerged in boredom until the very last interview…

* * *

**AN: That's all for tonight! Sorry but I NEED sleep! Anyways please let me know what you think and as long as my laptop doesn't break *knocks twice on the table to stop the jinks* I should be able to upload a LOT quickier than this one was! **

**BTW THANK YOU GUYS SOOOOO MUCH FOR ALL YOUR ON GOING SUPPORT! I SERIOUSLY COLDN'T WRITE IF IT WASN'T FOR YOU ALL LETTING ME KNOW IF YOU LIKE MY STORIES! 66 REVIEWS! WOW I'M SO HAPPY! Love you guys! :D xxx**


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